


Dark Times

by ChibiAyane, Genuka



Series: Dark Times in the Wizarding World [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Humor, Arguing, Betrayal, Blood and Gore, Clueless Harry, Co-existing, Complex Magic, Cooperation, Crack, Curses, Dancing, Dark Lord, Dark Magic, Deathly Hallows AU, Dirty Dancing, Disagreements, Duelling, Epic Battles, Evil Muggles, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Frustrated Voldemort, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Hero Whump, Hiding, Horcruxes, Human Voldemort, Implied Castration, Implied Mpreg, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kissing, Light Lord, Lusting Dark Lord, M/M, Mad Scientists, Magic Revealed, Magical Tattoos, Male Slash, Master of Death Harry, Master of Death Voldemort, Minor Character Death, Mixed Martial Arts, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, No Bashing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plotting Former Dark Lords, Poisoning, Possessive Behavior, Powerful Harry, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Rescue Missions, Rowdy Gryffindors, Sane Voldemort, Scars, Sexual Content, Singed Bellatrix, Soul Bond, Spells & Enchantments, Spies & Secret Agents, Tags May Change, Torture, Unforgivable Curses (Harry Potter), Unresolved Sexual Tension, Violence, War, servitude
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:47:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 55,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2615639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiAyane/pseuds/ChibiAyane, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genuka/pseuds/Genuka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When forgotten Dark forces work with those without magic, yet still consumed by darkness, the Wizarding World must band together and the two Lords of Magic must set aside their differences if their people are to survive...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unpleasant Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> A ChibiAyane spawned Monster bunny that she dropped on my head to work with. -Genuka  
> It is a pretty gargantuan bunny... -ChibiAyane  
> This will also be a slower and more randomly updated story than any of my others since we're both working on it. -Genuka  
> I'm a bit of a stickler. -ChibiAyane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Voldemort learn that there is something more important to fight for than the difference between Light and Dark.

Harry slammed into the back wall of the cell as the door clattered into place behind him, locking him in. He spun around, only to glower at the door made of bars before examining his newest accommodations. What he found was that he had been shoved into a concrete room with a wall of bars splitting it down the middle into two dreary gray cells. There was some sort of bundle of black fabric in the corner of the other cell and, when Harry's gaze landed on it, he met the bitterly amused ruby gaze of the very wizard who had been trying to kill him since he was fifteen months old.

"So, the Great Harry Potter, who has escaped me time and time again has fallen into the hands of _muggles_. That must sting," Voldemort commented derisively, his robes falling away from his face and head as he shifted, revealing the pale, serpentine features that Harry remembered from the Ministry and the Riddle graveyard. Harry caught a glimpse of silvery metal on the man's ankle that mirrored the one they had locked around his own ankle, preventing them from using magic.

"Hardly. Its not like I've ever managed to escape my relatives when they decided to shove me into my cupboard," Harry shot back, yanking his Weasley sweater down and back into place where the guard's grip had rucked it up, exposing a flash of milky skin.

Harry tried his best to ignore his worry over where Ron, Luna, and Hermione were. His mind flashed back to the astonishment he had felt when they arrived at Shell Cottage only to be stunned by Ron's brother Bill. He would have thought over why Bill would ever do something like this to them, if he hadn't recognized the blank, glazed over eyes of someone under the Imperius Curse. He half regretted convincing his two closest friends to wait on destroying the locket, even if it did lead to the discovery that the Sword of Gryffindor could store itself as a tattoo, as well as anything it might have been touching at the time. As a result, Harry now sported a tattoo of Gryffindor's sword intertwined with Slytherin's locket on his left forearm, exactly where the Death Eaters sported their Dark Marks.

"Your relatives..." Voldemort said slowly, his lip curling in disdain. "From what I've heard, your relatives treat you like a prince. You live in the lap of luxury, while I grew up in an underfunded orphanage; starved, bullied, and feared for simply being a child of magic. I was forced into learning to defend myself with anything and everything I could or nearly die from the beatings and lack of food." Harry scoffed.

"I'm lucky if I get one full meal a day at the Dursley's! Unless something happens, especially something magical! I have to complete anything and everything they come up with as chores, without magic, and if I don't do it perfectly I don't get anything to eat! Hell, my visits to the bathroom are limited and monitored and I didn't even know that my name was Harry, until I started primary school when I was five. I thought my name was _Freak_. And do you have any idea how back breaking it is to be treated like a house elf? I do. At least the house elves are usually happy to serve and get something out of the bond with their families. Me? I get nothing except so called blood wards, regular beatings, not enough food, and have to routinely escape my relatives just to stay alive. Even if that means I get it worse when I finally do go back. Sometimes I could steal some food whenever I managed to escape my cupboard, and more recently my room. If you call that being treated like a prince then I guess I am," Harry retorted dryly, fuming at the fact that not only did he have to deal with his hateful relatives but that his so called mortal enemy hadn't even bothered to find out the truth about him. As far as Harry was concerned, in that moment Voldemort was just as ignorant about him as the rest of the Wizarding masses.

"You lie!" Voldemort accused, as he stood up and angrily approached the bars separating their cells.

"The hell I do! I didn't even know magic was real until Hagrid came and got me from my relatives! I had no idea about my heritage and thanks to Albus Bloody Dumbledore I haven't managed to get my hands on virtually anything; training, information, nothing! No way to learn about our world beyond the basics. Muchless to learn about my family or anything else deemed irrelevant to my role in this damn war!" Harry practically roared back. "Did you know that Ron and his twin bothers had to break me out of my uncle's house so I could go to Hogwarts for my second year? They had to use their dad's flying car to rip the bars off my window and pick the lock on my cupboard to get my trunk out! I can never get my summer homework properly done because the moment I get to the Dursley's, it's taken away and shoved into my cupboard. I have to make a mad dash to do it all on the train!"

"Stop your lies! Dumbledore would _never_ allow his Golden Boy to be treated like that!" Voldemort retorted angrily, before reaching through the bars to try and grab the younger wizard so he could strangle him.

"Yeah? Well, he did. He left me there because of the blood wards that would keep you away. Personally, I blame you for all of it! And if the spy that told you about me was Snape, well, the man hates me because my father treated him like shite in school and he believes me to be his carbon copy," Harry informed him, as he quickly backed out of the older man's reach. "I never did anything to him before he decided I was scum and ought to be treated like an Azkaban reject."

Voldemort's retort was interrupted and they were both distracted by the arrival of three men; two muggle armed guards in black generic uniforms with no identifying marks carrying nightsticks, and a man in a standard white lab coat. The man in the lab coat was holding a clip board and making notes on it with a biro as they approached. The scientist or doctor eventually looked up at the now quietly observing wizards. He checked his notes one last time before tucking the clipboard under his arm and the biro away into his breast pocket.

"So, these are the two supposed most powerful _wizards_ in existence," Mr. Lab Coat said thoughtfully. "I must say our friend had a hard time helping us with entering that mansion and trapping you all... I believe that you called it Malfoy Manor? He said something about a 'disruption in the wards' that let him bring them down. It was probably pure luck that Mr. Red Eyes here had just arrived when those shields were brought down. Pity, I'd rather hoped we'd be able to actually see what the two of you were capable of, even if we lost you the first time we tried to collar you. Ah well, let's not dwell on it. Take the boy. He'll be the next one to enjoy the extraction process."

They opened Harry's cell, and both guards entered, leaving the chatty scientist behind. Harry exchanged a wary look with Voldemort and watched as the grim faced guards did their best to corner him. Harry, used to these tactics from Dudley and his gang, expertly avoided them for a full five minutes before dodging too close to one of them. This allowed the guard to grab the Gryffindor's sweater as he passed and drag him into their restraining arms, even as Harry fought against them, twisting and thrashing like an enraged cat. Harry fought hard; kicking, biting, scratching, fists flying. Eventually, they had to physically pick him up and carry him. One guard held his arms pinned to his sides, while the other held his kicking legs together. They carried him out between the two of them, Harry kicking and screaming the whole way out of the holding area. 

As Harry was bodily carried up the open metal staircase, he managed to see the area consisting of a large room containing rows upon rows of cells just like his and Voldemort's. Many of the cells were filled with Hogwarts students, Death Eaters in uniform, and random witches and wizards. He even recognized a few Aurors and Order members. Eventually they got to a glass enclosed room that was missing a door and held something that looked like a dentist's chair with restraints on it. Attached to the extra chest strap, which was attached almost on top of the standard one, was something resembling a cross between a funnel and a colander adorned with various acid carved runes.

Harry figured he really didn't want to be hooked up to whatever magical device that clearly was and fought harder, forcing one of the guards to beat him with their nightstick hard enough that he was dazed while they strapped him down. The man in the lab coat tutted at Harry's behavior as he came over and checked that not only were the restraints securely in place but that the device was undamaged. Nodding in satisfaction at his findings, he tapped several runes in a special order, triggering the device.

Harry didn't have to wait long to discover first hand what the object did. It started as a pressure in his chest and quickly moved to a deep chest encompassing burning and tugging sensation. It hurt. It felt like his soul was being sucked out of him, and Harry was quickly screaming in agony and thrashing against his restraints, trying to get away from the thing. His screams echoed through the non-existent door and around the halls of the holding area. The scientist stood to the side, completely unconcerned about the pain that Harry was in as he calmly took notes, occasionally checking the lights that had appeared on the device before turning back to his clipboard.

Half an hour later, Harry's voice was practically gone and they finally shut off the device and removed the magic inhibiting anklet to avoid accidentally killing Harry from a severely depleted magical core. The Gryffindor could do little more than moan as they carried his limp body back to his cell, dumping him unceremoniously onto the floor. They entered Voldemort's cell and dragged him away for the same treatment. Voldemort fought their hold, fear giving him greater strength but he was too stunned by the state they had left the young Gryffindor in to put much thought into keeping them from getting a grip on him.

"Can't handle a little pain, boy?" A Death Eater gloated from the cell across from Harry's.

Harry vaguely thought he recognized him as Yaxley, but he couldn't be sure right now, his vision was blurred with exhaustion. Harry simply groaned and ignored the twat. The man's smirk was wiped away moments later when he heard his master screaming just as much as Harry had. Forty-five minutes later, an apparently different man was dumped onto the floor next to Harry in his cell. When he finally managed enough strength to raise his head and look at his new cellmate Harry was shocked to find himself looking at the twenty something emaciated form of Tom Riddle. The ruby colored eyes alone giving away the fact that it was still Voldemort.

"So you managed to get your body back," Harry commented with an exhausted snort of amusement.

"Shut up, brat. Its hard enough achieving the animagus transformation muchless maintaining the viable half form for more than a split second. You have no idea how hard it was to shift while in that damned cauldron and exhausted from the ritual before the smoke cleared and I had to stand up," Voldemort said acidly. "The magic inhibitor they had on us didn't help much."

"Only you would worry about your image before anything else, right after getting a real body back after thirteen years as a wraith," Harry commented dryly, his blurred gaze on those narrowed ruby eyes.

"My Lord?" Yaxley asked in astonishment from across the aisle.

"Didn't know the wanker was human, did you?" Harry asked the Death Eater with a bitter laugh.

"Shut it, Potter!" Voldemort groaned.

"At least we aren't bleeding and I can still feel my magic," Harry muttered, as he shifted to lay on his back.

Harry settled himself more comfortably on the concrete floor before allowing his body to fall into a light doze, even as the Dark Lord ignored the astonished Death Eater and followed his example. As they slept they unconsciously curled toward each other, instinctively reaching for the body heat they could feel radiating from their cellmate. Eventually they lay next to one another, completely oblivious to the fact that they were within arms reach of their mortal enemy, practically cuddled together on the smooth cold concrete floor.

Two hours later, they were startled out of their pained and exhausted sleep by the nearby door to the holding area opening. Instinctively they rolled away from each other and into a crouch, ready to fight. The two wizards were surprised by the sight of a group of guards dragging in a tall struggling bundle of heavy black robes. Both wizards warily watched as the guards opened the door to their cell only to shove their new cellmate in with them. Harry and Voldemort were both shocked to find themselves joined by an irate Severus Snape who had immediately regained his footing and turned to yell at the retreating muggles.

"Snape?" Harry asked dumbly drawing the dour man's attention to his cellmates. Snape's eyes widened in shock as he recognized Voldemort's more human form via the ruby colored eyes, before quickly putting himself between the other two, with his back to the young Gryffindor.

"Explain," Voldemort demanded, his eyes narrowing into ruby slits as he eyed the exhausted and irritated potions master. His gaze clearly indicated exactly what he wanted an explanation for, as it lingered on the protective way the dark man shielded the young Gryffindor. Snape sighed and saw no way out of explaining, as they were all currently locked in a cell together.

"Dumbledore died by my hand at his own request. I was forced into an Unbreakable Vow to complete Draco's task for him, should he fail to do it, but Dumbledore made me promise to be the one to do it. So that he may die undefeated and to spare Draco from tarnishing his soul with murder. Years before that, Dumbledore forced me into a Wizard's Oath, one to protect Potter," Snape admitted with a bitter laugh, too exhausted to care that he had just admitted he had been protecting his lord's greatest enemy for years. "You were gone, Lily was dead, both my fault because I didn't think when I overheard the prophecy, nor did I manage to hear the entire thing. That doesn't even count the life debt Albus incurred keeping me out of Azkaban, using it to keep me from breaking my promises to him. What was I supposed to do? It was all I could manage to keep my hide intact, so that I may protect Lily's son. Lucius had money and power as a shield, along with others citing trickery and the Imperius Curse, the others went to Azkaban. The old fool didn't even let me check on the very person who now owned my life, for all that he assured me the boy was happy and spoiled. The son of my childhood tormentor and a woman I loved as a sister. A woman you killed without a second thought."

"That's not true," Harry said quietly. "He told mum to move aside, more than once. She wouldn't." 

"What would you know of it? You were barely more than a year old," Snape asked tiredly, still shielding him from his master.

"I hear them die every time a Dementor gets too close," Harry informed them wryly. "That's why Dumbledore asked Professor Lupin to teach me the Patronus Charm, not to mention that my Boggart is a Dementor."

Harry's words were the last straw, Snape's shock and exhaustion making him lose all sense of decorum, as he fell to his knees and started sobbing and clutching his stomach while muttering Lily's name over and over. Harry exchanged a wary glance with his long time enemy before he hesitantly knelt down next to his former Professor and gently hugged him. The dour man clutched at the boy he was sworn to protect and sobbed into the Weasley jumper that Harry was wearing. The Dark Lord gave a heavy sigh before shifting quietly over to his cellmates and sat with them, mourning the events of that night and mentally cursing the old man who seemingly did nothing to stop it. An hour later, Snape had calmed down enough to slip his mask back into place and carefully pull away from Harry before turning almost sheepishly to face his master.

"On the off chance that you feel the need to continue protecting the brat from me, do I look like I'm able to harm him at the moment?" Voldemort asked in grim amusement and was gratified to see the stoic man blushing. "That's not to say we won't be discussing your little oaths to the twinkling fool later but for now I'm more interested in getting out of here with as many of our people as possible."

"Of course, my Lord," Snape said with as much of a bow as he could manage from his seated position.

"Leave that to me," Harry said cheekily, as he got up on slightly shaky legs, and sauntered toward the door to their cell. The two older wizards watched curiously as Harry got the attention of the nearest guard.

"Hey! Can I get some water or something? And aren't you guys supposed to feed us? We won't be much good for anything if you don't give us some basics," Harry pointed out jovially, earning shocked looks from the few of his fellow captives that could see him.

"Shut your trap, brat," the guard ordered with a nasty snarl of ill temper. "You and your _friends_ will be dead by sun down, if I have anything to say about it."

"Come on. It's not like it will kill you to give us a cup of water," Harry cajoled without batting an eyelash. He smiled winningly before asking prettily. "Pleeease? I promise I'll stop bothering you after you give me the cup of water."

"You want water? I'll give you water!" The guard snarled as he stormed up to the bars of their cell to knock some sense into the stupid animal masquerading as a common _normal_ teenager.

Harry wasn't bothered by the aggressive approach, far from it, he was used to having to impassively face down his raging Uncle. Instead Harry just waited until the man was reaching through the bars of their cell to grab his arm and yank hard, slamming the man head first into the steel barred door of their cell, knocking him unconscious. The young wizard calmly reached down and searched the man's pockets until he found the keys to the various holding cells and turned to smirk at the astonished older wizards, who had been about to pull him away from the door and the enraged guard.

"Told you." Harry smirked before calmly turning and opening the cell door. He quickly crossed the aisle and opened the other cell before tossing the keys to Yaxley and giving the downed guard a vicious kick to the crotch. "Get everyone out will you? I need to get these two moving and this idiot locked into our cell. Try not to kill anyone and don't leave anyone behind; pureblood, muggleborn, half-blood, or squib. There's no reason to hand these idiots victims on a silver platter."

The Death Eater looked at the, now obviously human, Dark Lord for confirmation and received it before obeying, pausing momentarily to give the guard a kick of his own.

"Brat, you _will_ be explaining. That was almost Slytherin of you," Snape ordered, his amusement and shock barely hidden and causing his eyes to dance with mischief.

"Eh, the Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin any way," Harry said with a careless shrug. "But I had already met Draco," he added, like it explained everything. The other two older Slytherin wizards momentarily dropped their jaws in astonishment, before they quickly caught up with the fast moving Gryffindor. Harry muttered under his breath. "Now, if we can just get these bloody cuffs off everyone, then everything will be grand. I'm just glad they forgot to put mine back on."

"Try the key hanging near the main door," Luna offered from the cell they were just about to pass. "Hello, Professor, Mr. Dark Lord."

"Luna!" Harry crowed in delight as he ducked down to let a guard, that was trying to tackle him, fly over his head and knock himself out on the floor, helping the man live up to the cliche. The guard even slid to a stop just in front of Snape and Voldemort. Snape bent down, pain evident in his every move, and retrieved their second set of keys before quickly releasing Luna and her cellmates.

"Thank you, Professor," Luna said congenially with a big smile, as she gracefully stepped from the cell. "A couple of the DA members are going to have trouble since they had to watch the guards kill Luca Caruso."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll try to keep them on a tight leash," Harry said with a grimace.

"Oh, don't worry. The wrackspurts will help us get past the guards and Seamus will have fun with the wires and electricity," Luna told him happily.

"Finnigan?" Snape asked sharply. When Luna nodded in agreement, he groaned and explained to the confused looking Dark Lord accompanying them. "Finnigan has a penchant for pyrotechnics. If he is going to 'have fun' with the wiring and electricity then we may have to move quickly, depending on how fast the fire spreads and what it devours."

"First we need to get everyone moving and take out the guards," Voldemort reminded him. "We can leave... surprises after everyone is ready to move and we're on our way out of here."

"Harry!" Hermione called, seeing him in front of her, as she shot toward him down the aisle, several guards close on her heels. Harry quickly grabbed Hermione's forearm as she sped past even as she grabbed his own forearm. They spun around using Hermione's momentum to turn themselves into a living bola, knocking the quickly moving guards to the ground as they stayed on their feet with obvious practice.

"Now, aren't you glad I made the DA practice getting around corners quickly and using each other to help stay on their feet and moving?" Harry asked mischievously as two of the students who had been locked in with Luna quickly tied up the guards with their own clothes and belts.

"Yes, yes, you were right. But I was still right to make you all learn some basic judo moves. Aren't you at all glad that Fred and George got Mr. Weasley to get them judo lessons? They even paid for it, though I don't know where they got the money unless they used some of the galleons they used to start up their shop with from whomever their silent partner is," Hermione countered with a roll of her eyes as she pulled back from the hug her friend had dragged her into. Harry bit his lip at the mention of the unknown 'silent partner', basically giving himself away to anyone paying attention. Which Snape was, and had to hold in an eye roll. "I passed some of the DA fighting more with the Death Eaters than the guards. We need to fix that before they capture us again. The three you just helped me deal with were sneaking up on a group that was arguing." Harry nodded his acknowledgement as he took a deep breath before instinctively layering some of the little magic he had left into his voice.

"DA! ESCAPE AND EVADE! ARGUE LATER!" Harry bellowed. "FORM INTO GROUPS AND MOVE OUT!"

The effect was instantaneous. The noise level dropped as both sides responded to the magic and instinctive knowledge that a Lord of Magic had given an order. Voldemort was the only one not compelled on some level to obey the commands that Harry had just issued and was giving the younger wizard an odd, almost knowing look.

"Told you it would work," Hermione said smugly as they moved toward the entrance, various groups taking out the guards as they went.

"I still don't understand why. I mean, no one else seems to be able to do it," Harry argued back, ignoring how many of the previously captured Gryffindor students, whether a part of the DA or not, were systematically knocking down guards and beating them unconscious instead of tying them up.

"V-Voldemort should be able to do it. It's something that identifies special witches and wizards. I'm not quite sure why, I only found that vague reference that I showed you and there wasn't anything else in the library about it. I came across something else that might be relevant but I'm not sure," Hermione explained calmly even as she yanked a Slytherin student out of the way of a tumbling knot of people made up of a guard and two students struggling to knock each other down. The Slytherin gave her a weird look before he saw Snape walking along behind them.

"Gather together as many as you can. If possible don't leave anyone behind," Snape ordered lowly, as he continued to eye the arguing friends suspiciously. "We're leaving this place and if possible, destroying it on our way out."

By the time they got to the main door of the holding area, Hermione had fished out her bottomless beaded bag from where she'd hidden it in her sock again and handed Harry, Voldemort, and Snape each a magic replenishing potion as the only three without the magic inhibiting anklets on. Luna quickly got the key for the anklets out of its hiding place and started unlocking the anklets, starting with the people not only powerful but with combat skills. Only Voldemort and Snape seemed to notice the pattern she used but eventually everyone was out of their restraints and very happy to have proper access to their magic again, even if they didn't have any wands on hand.

Harry took the chance that the lull in activity gave him to peek through the main doors to see what they would have to go up against. He gaped when he realized that a group of no less than 5 guards were trying to force McGonagall down the hallway toward the main holding area. Snatching Hermione's bag away from her, he quickly pawed through it looking for one of the twins' prank products that he had stashed with his stuff, which should have been packed. When he finally found the magical fire works, he practically purred in satisfaction as he pulled them out of the bag before handing it back to an irritated Hermione.

Smirking, the Gryffindor Golden Boy motioned everyone to be quiet before easing open the door to the hallway and pinching the end of the fuse on the firework, channeling a small bit of magic into his finger tips in lieu of a match or wand. The firework shot down the hall, distracting and spooking the guards enough for McGonagall to get free, even as the group of former captives practically burst through the doors with the Lions in the lead as they quickly incapacitated the guards with brute force. Their head of house was shocked at how many people had been captured and was even more surprised to find that there were members of both Light and Dark working together. That's when she spotted Harry.

"Severus, Mr. Potter, I'm honestly surprised to see you here. Perhaps, you'd like to explain?" McGonagall requested, as polite and poised as ever. Harry just grinned at her fondly before answering.

"Hello, Professor. Bill Weasley knocked my group out and I woke up getting tossed into a cell here. I'm pretty sure he was under the Imperius Curse, though. He had that weird light sheen to his eyes. I saw it just as the Stunner hit me," Harry said cheerfully. "I don't know how anyone else got here, but Snape got tossed into the same cell as me and Voldy after they drained the two of us of most of our magic. Nasty device. Painful, too."

Voldemort's eye twitched at the horrid excuse for a nickname.

"Oi! Harry, we gotta go. I need to find Bill and knock some sense into him," Ron called from ahead of them.

Luna skipped past them and calmly entered a door to their left that was clearly _not_ the way out. Harry quickly followed her only to find himself and a bunch of other witches and wizards who lived in the muggle world staring back at him. He quickly backed up a bit to look at the walls properly. What he found chilled him to the marrow of his bones.

There were pictures and papers pinned to the walls with information on more than fifty families, all with at least one magical member, often of Hogwarts age or younger, though some were older. Each and every file had as much information as possible on the family up to and including favorite food and color. Some were clearly marked for termination and dissection, while others were marked for capture or observation. Even the Malfoys were on the wall. Harry slowly turned to look at Luna, fear icily forming in his chest.

"Yes," Luna answered his unspoken question. "The Statute of Secrecy has failed. We have three choices; fight, die, or find a way to hide again. To survive Light, Dark, and Neutral must fight as one and every traitor must reveal exactly what was shared with our hunters before they die."

Voldemort observed both the wall of dangerously accurate information and the interaction between the young lion and eagle from the doorway. Silently, he acknowledged that the ditzy blond was right. They could fight about the governing politics and laws of their world once it was either once again safely hidden or when it was standing strong in the open. Only time would tell the path they would need to take but for now there was to be no division between light and dark; pureblood and muggleborn. For now there would only be magic and non-magic.

"You're going to need to accept Dumbledore's place as the Light Lord," Voldemort said softly from his position, causing Harry to turn and face him, confusion cloaking his face.

"He isn't ready for such a responsibility," McGonagall said indignantly.

"Oh, he's more than ready. Or did you honestly think that our link was only one way?" Voldemort scoffed, as he entered the room for a better look at the information scattered all over the walls. He quickly found Harry's file set out prominently on the small desk off to one side and, with a little slight of hand, slipped it into his robes, before turning back to face his old schoolmate once more as he continued speaking. "I've seen a few of the more memorable things he's had to deal with in his own memories. I didn't just possess him for a short time at the ministry, I've been dreaming about his memories of the magical world for almost a year. It simply took me six months to figure out how to send him a falsified memory rather than allowing him to observe as the events happened, once I realized he was even there in the first place. Unless of course you truly don't believe that he stopped me from retrieving the Philosopher's Stone in his first year? Or fought and killed Slytherin's ancient Basilisk in his second? Or even successfully chased off over a hundred dementors at the end of his third? No? How about his exemplary performance in the Tri-wizard Tournament? After all of that, you truly believe that he is not only unready to take up the mantle of my counterpart, the mantle that he has been practically groomed for, but that he is also still a child? You disappoint me, Minerva."

"Um, explanation please?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"You're supposed to be the next Lord of Light," Snape explained carefully, causing Hermione to drop her bag with a loud thunk in shocked understanding.

"It's not like we can do it now so it's a moot point, and who even says I'd qualify?" Harry pointed out tiredly, the entire ordeal starting to catch up with him, for all that Voldemort and Snape were already moving slowly and were clearly in pain.

"Actually, we can do it now," Voldemort said softly, ignoring Hermione as she bent down to retrieve her bottomless bag of goodies.

"What do I have to do?" Harry asked wearily, as his shoulders slumped in minor defeat.

"Simply declare your intent. The magic will take it from there," Voldemort explained. "The ritual is similar to that of attaining the title of Dark Lord, however as a Dark Lord you have to either forcibly take the title from the previous Dark Lord or otherwise earn it before initiating the ritual. For the Light Lord, the magic does everything for you."

"But Dumbledore... How can I replace him? Fill his shoes..." Harry started almost helplessly before trailing off, begging them with his eyes not to ask this of him.

"Harry, this is important and something you can do," Hermione cajoled, only managing to gain a lost look from her friend.

"You have to want it, Mr. Potter," McGonagall explained quietly. "The Lord of Light is the one who protects the life and love of the magical world. He protects the light and those in it. Dumbledore was the Light Lord because he loved all magical people and he wanted to keep them safe, for all that he became a bit misguided at the end. You don't need to be Headmaster or Chief Warlock or Supreme Mugwump or anything but a protector of the Light."

"You want that, don't you, Harry?" Hermione asked gently. "You want to protect us. You've been doing it ever since you learned you were a wizard. Even if you didn't realize it, you started protecting Hogwarts and its students, even when the teachers didn't see the danger posed."

"You also tried to warn the Wizarding world that the Dark Lord had returned, and kept up the warnings, even though most called you a liar," Snape added, continuing even as he watched Harry's Gryffindor mask slip back into place. Seeing that mask made him realize that he had been seeing the real Harry since being tossed into the same cell with them. "Even when most of the Wizarding world turned its back on you, you still tried to protect it from something... someone you saw as a threat."

"You have everything you need to accept the role, to be my counter-part, my equal, in every way," Voldemort informed him solemnly. "From what I've seen, you've already accepted the position. We're just asking you to make it official, so that you get the benefits and respect that go with it."

"The definition given by the library book I read about the Lords of Magic says that the duty and ultimate wish of the Light Lord is to _protect life, love, and magic_. Harry you've been doing that since we fought that stupid troll in first year!" Hermione explained almost desperately. "You've never stopped, never given up! We just want be allowed to help, but we can't unless you take up the title of Light Lord to help balance V-Voldemort's title of Dark Lord. Besides, if you really aren't supposed to be the Light Lord nothing will happen when you declare for it and we won't bring it up again."

"Just allow your magic to guide your words and go from there," Voldemort suggested, fighting to shove aside his slight guilt for practically trying to force Harry into the position as his equal and counter-part.

"Fine," Harry caved, he stopped, mentally and physically taking a deep breath and made his declaration from the heart. Allowing his magic to choose the words and infuse them with power that grew until it resonated throughout the room, deep into their very bones. "I, Harry James Potter, do stand as the champion of the Light. The Lord of the Light has fallen and I have been asked to take upon myself his title of Light Lord. Let magic judge my worthiness. So Mote It Be."

A bright light immediately enveloped the Gryffindor, blinding those watching and seeping through flesh, fabric, sinew, bone, and blood as the power bound itself to the very essence that was Harry James Potter. The power briefly lifted him from the floor he stood upon, stripping away his glamours, rushing through his body, reconstructing his muscles to enhanced perfection, restructuring and reinforcing his bones to support the improved muscle and sinew.

Harry's blood was washed as clean of contaminants and other harmful junk as magic could make it even as it repaired every single internal injury and regenerated the scarred or badly damaged organs and tissue. Leaving only the scars on his skin untouched as evidence of his trials and history. As the magic and light faded, Harry was gently set back down where he had been standing. His eyes, when he opened them, were momentarily pure white before they faded back to his normal vibrant emerald green. His gaze immediately meeting the gleaming ruby of his counter-part's as he stood tall in front of them.

"That felt... interesting," Harry said, his voice momentarily unsteady before he looked down at himself and saw what he was wearing. "What the hell am I wearing?!"

Harry's clothes had become a pure gold robe of the finest quality, made from Acromantula silk, woven by the purest magic in existence. Voldemort smirked as Snape gave a quiet snort, earning a glare from the newly declared Light Lord. It was when he saw the pink, lavender, robin egg blue, and silver colors shaped into moons, planets, and stars scattered over the robe winking in and out that he reared back in disgusted shock.

"EW! I look like Dumbledore dressed me!" Harry exclaimed, completely horrified by this unexpected turn of events. "Why couldn't it have been a dark green or even black? I like _dark_ colors!"

"You become a star of the Light and the first thing you worry about are your clothes?" Snape asked with a derisive snort, amusement clear in his voice as he leaned back against the nearest wall, propping himself up and easing some of his pain from the earlier draining.

"This is one of the reasons I'm always wearing black or dark colors," Voldemort said, his tone almost completely flat, trying hard to hide the mirth that was merrily bubbling away in his ruby gaze. "The magic won't let me wear lighter colors, they always shift to a darker hue or change to black. I actually _can't_ wear yellow, pink, mint green, white, and sky blue. Not that I would _want_ to wear most of those colors but I would at least like to have had the choice."

"I'm sorry to say that even your Hogwarts robes would turn white," McGonagall explained sympathetically. "It's one of the reasons Dumbledore never wore anything that looked sensible or at least relatively normal. He couldn't. It takes a phenomenally powerful Lord of Magic to wear anything from the opposite of the colors they are associated with. The fact that Voldemort can even wear mostly black with a touch of green shading into light green is a mark of his power. If you can manage _any_ dark color it will equally be a mark of your own power and position as one of the Lords of Light. Regardless, you're stuck with what you have for the first week, unless you have the power and skill to rival the first remembered Lords of magic, Merlin and Morgan Le Fey. Both of them could wear any color they liked and could change their robes within five minutes of receiving them."

Harry just gave her a mutinous glare, next sending his robes another disgusted look before glaring at Hermione, having decided that she was the one to talk him into taking on the title that forced him into the hideous robes. It would take Harry three days to figure out how to change his robes to properly dark colors that didn't burn his eyes or make him want to bleach his brain. However, they would discover much later that it would take Voldemort either giving the clothing to him as a gift or physically dressing him for Harry to be able to wear black or the darker shades of grey. Just as they also discovered the reverse was true for the lighter colors that Voldemort might want to wear.

Just as Harry was becoming resigned to his current attire for the moment, Fawkes decided to appear, flaming right into the air next to Harry and next to _lots_ of very flammable paper records scattered everywhere in the room they were standing in. Upon seeing all of the flammable material the Phoenix quickly reeled in his flame before adroitly landing on Harry's shoulder where Hedwig used to perch when she had still been alive. A moment later he bit into Harry's ear, drawing blood and an irritated "OW!" from his new master. A soothing beautiful song and a few tears later were all it took to make everything well again.

"Well, at least the blasted bird will help us get everyone out of here," Snape remarked scathingly. "Though it would be _immensely_ helpful if we could find our wands before we left."

Fawkes squawked angrily at him before flaming away, returning a moment later dragging a chest which the phoenix practically dumped at the feet of the scowling potions master, before returning to Harry's shoulder looking pleased with himself. The beautiful fire bird preened as people stared at him for both his presence and bringing them what Snape had just discovered, when he opened the chest, were their wands - every last one of them. They heard a shout from out in the hall way and sounds of more fighting but it quickly quieted down, indicating that their fellow witches and wizards had won the skirmish.

Snape silently summoned his wand from the chest before starting to hand out everyone else's wands, using what little magic he had at the moment to speed up the process. It took a moment for everyone to find their personal wand but every last one of them were delighted to have them back. The next group of guards that rounded the corner heading for the holding area, found out how painful many school yard curses, hexes and jinxes could be, as the older witches and wizards allowed the students their vengeance first.

The adults had realized that they would probably need to side-along apparate the younger members of their group in a hurry and were doing their best to make sure they actually had the power reserves to do it. None of them had been particularly happy to discover their magic was being restrained. The small group who had been in the planning room rejoined everyone else in the hallway. Harry was still grumbling about his change in attire while the other four were practically gloating, if a bit sympathetically, over his new look.

"If I get the chance I'm burning these robes," Harry informed the quartet sourly as they came into sight of the other former captives.

"I do believe that Albus once mentioned he could easily will the robes into a single color. He just didn't feel like fighting the magic into something more average when he was coming to enjoy the clothing styles that magic had provided him with," McGonagall mentioned with a smirk, as if she were in her animagus form and had gotten into the cream someone had been hiding from her.

"Why didn't you say so before?!" Harry demanded indignantly before quickly focusing on the robes and with a relieved sigh managed to shift them into a solid, and slightly darker shade of gold. Harry looked down at the results and muttered. "Damn, I was hoping to get it to go darker. Maybe it's too early? And why didn't it at least shift to something more muggle?"

"Ah, you can't, not for a few days at least. You could get it to shift to battle robes but the magic will reject anything muggle for at least the first few days. Not even Merlin was able to get around that declaration of his new station," McGonagall offered in a stunned tone of voice at the fact he was able to get his robes to go even a little bit darker so soon.

"Worry about what you're wearing after we're out of here," Snape snapped at them irritably, managing to break out of his surprise to try and get everyone moving. "It doesn't feel like we have to worry about apparation wards but we all need to arrive at the same place. Somewhere that isn't inherently magical for a head count before moving to somewhere safer with plenty of strong wards."

"Harry! When Dumbledore died, anyone who knew the address of a place that he had put under the Fidelius charm or held the secret for automatically became one of its secret keepers!" Hermione informed him quickly, having a burst of inspiration.

"What's that got to do with anything? By the way Fred and George found some sort of room with lots of, what did you and 'Mione call them? Telly's?" Ron asked coming over to stand with them. When he saw what Harry was wearing he did a double take and gave his friends a look demanding an explanation with his eyes alone.

"Later, Ron. If your brothers could wreck the Telly's and anything attached to them, that would be grand," Harry told him briskly, seeing Ron's demanding look before turning back to Hermione. "You really think it would work?"

Hermione nodded firmly and opened her mouth to add something, but before she could they heard Draco Malfoy's shocked voice cut through the noise of the group.

"Oh My God! Potter's the new Light Lord!" Draco cried in absolute horror, looking paler and just a bit green around the gills. Drawing everyone's attention almost the moment he saw his old school rival, after having just gone to retrieve his father from one of the less public extraction rooms that they had taken him to. 

Lucius stood behind his son looking stunned at the latest turn of events. He was more than a bit on the pale side, from both shock and the magical extraction process. Lucius' eyes met the amused ruby ones of his sworn lord, who nodded slightly in agreement of Draco's assessment of the situation. The blond nudged his son before bowing to the new Lord of the Light, his son quickly following suit with a scowl on his aristocratic face. Most of the group followed suit, bowing or kneeling to the green eyed Lord in various forms, much to Harry's extreme embarrassment. The Weasley clan didn't bother to give more than a perfunctory bow before bustling over to him and enveloping Harry in a sea of redheads and hugs, embarrassing him further.

"Oh Arthur! Our Harry is the new Light Lord!" Molly exclaimed joyfully, tears beginning to leak from her eyes as she hugged Harry to her tight enough to almost suffocate him. The twins quickly rescued their adoptive little brother from the Weasley Matriarch, pulling him into hugs of their own.

"Good on ya!" Fred declared gleefully as he and his twin joined them.

"Now we don't have to worry as much about you getting into trouble," George agreed, equally gleeful.

"Boys, let Harry breath a bit. We can congratulate him when we're somewhere safer," Arthur scolded, breaking up his family's attempts to trap the young man in a sea of red.

"Alright, can we apparate?" Harry asked, quickly taking back control of the situation. Fred and George grinned wickedly before apparating a short way down the hall and back again, with precision landings, making Harry blink and causing Molly to start scolding them for their recklessness.

"I'll take that as a yes," Harry said slowly, slightly disconcerted, before quickly moving on, giving out orders. "Order Members, I want you take as many as possible with you and apparate to the park just in front of headquarters. When we have everyone accounted for take everyone inside, and I do mean _everyone_." 

"Are you sure that's wise, Potter?" Snape asked his former student quietly.

"You have a better idea?" Harry retorted, equally as quiet.

"No," Snape admitted stiffly. Harry nodded sharply before turning back to the group as a whole.

"From this point onward our war between Light and Dark is on hold until we've figured this shite out and how to handle it. If someone is magical or a squib you do _not_ leave them to the mercy of the muggles. Any muggles must be vouched for by at least one magical and confirmed with Legilimency or Veritaserum. No exceptions. Traitors will be dealt with harshly," Harry told them, steel and power in his voice, practically radiating off of his very presence. "This is no longer about Light or Dark, or the restrictions on members of the magical community, this is about survival. I, like Lord Voldemort, have first hand experience of just how far the muggles are willing to go. Use _everything_ at your disposal whether the _Ministry_ says its illegal or not. When we're safe, we'll work from there. Now, get moving!"

"Well done," Voldemort told him quietly, an appreciative and possibly avaricious gleam in his ruby colored eyes, as they were surrounded by the pops of apparation. Snape remained behind to help sort out whoever couldn't be taken by the other Order Members as they quickly transported everyone by a combination of apparation, portkey, and phoenix flame.


	2. Grimmauld Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry opens his home to his dark counterpart, and the struggle to coexist begins.

The arrival of so many people in so short of a time to the small park in front of Grimmauld place quickly drew the attention of the neighbors. Harry thanked god that most of the neighbors were asleep when he realized it was close to midnight and that the Aurors with them only had to Obliviate one or two of them rather than the entire neighborhood. Since Hermione had pointed out that everyone who knew about Grimmauld Place had become one of its secret keepers upon Dumbledore's death, it was relatively easy to get everyone past the charm once they were accounted for. Housing them inside took a bit more... creativity. Several of the older members of the group were drafted to place expansion charms or make certain areas in the house safer for inhabitation.

Bellatrix was one of the last people to enter the house, in part because the guards had been a bit vicious the last time they had knocked her senseless. The moment she stepped foot inside the Black Seat the magic of the house recognized her and tried to help heal her, easing some of the pain and the concussion. It took her a moment to get her bearings and realize exactly what the screeching was that she was hearing. Bella quickly looked up in shocked recognition before her face suddenly shifted to fury as she turned on Harry.

"You _dare_ sully the name of Black by harboring _light_ wizards who want our death in the seat of our power!" Bellatrix practically screeched a the young lord.

"I wasn't the one to decide to use this place as headquarters. Blame Sirius and Dumbledore for that," Harry shot back almost disdainfully, as he helped one of the few people to get injured in their escape into the parlor and onto a small settee set against the wall.

"Filth! Blood-Traitors! Get thee gone from my home!" Walburga screeched again, forcefully keeping her curtains open as Bill and another Order member struggled to force them closed.

" ** _SHUT IT!_** " Harry roared, finally getting fed up with the painting's screeching. A moment of blessed silence was enough for Harry to stalk up to the insane portrait, scowling, to have a little _talk_ with Lady Walburga Black, his voice cold as the vacuum of space. "For your information, Lady Walburga, more than half of the people I just allowed into _my_ home are allied with the dark. You have made your opinions perfectly clear to all. The Statute of Secrecy has failed, every magical location with sufficient wards has just become a safe house for those of magical birth. I can and will remove you from your place as a protector in this house and destroy your portrait unless you are willing to display some basic respect and manners."

"You can't remove me, boy. I made certain of that," Walburga informed him with vicious satisfaction, causing Bellatrix to cackle, thinking her aunt had gotten one up on the insulting little brat.

"I can remove the wall you're attached to," Harry pointed out, his eyes chips of emerald colored granite, causing the portrait to somehow manage to instantly go pale. "Whether you like it or not, I have Black blood and am the current Lord of the House of Black. I am also the new Light Lord. Be glad I even granted safe harbor to those who have been trying to kill me since I was little more than a year old, which just happens to include most of the remaining House of Black and most of the so called dark. I could have just as easily removed them from the family and left them all to die in the hellhole the muggles dumped us all in to experiment on."

"Perhaps my son was not such a failure after all. He choose his heir well," Walburga said after a moment's stunned silence. "Continue acting like a Lord and a proper Black and you will have my cooperation, if not my blessing. Bellatrix, I expect you and your sister to school our new Lord in the ways of our house. Just because he stands as Light Lord doesn't mean he can't learn dark magic and be a proper credit to our family. Know this, young Lord, the the Dark Lord, the one who the pathetic light call He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is always welcome here."

"I thank you for the reminder of your hospitality, Walburga," Voldemort said smoothly, even as he practically faded into view out of the shadows he had been observing from. Amusement bubbling in his voice even as he glanced between the three verbal combatants. Harry sent a scowl at the man before turning back to the matter at hand.

"I know more of the muggle world than of the magical. I was raised as a muggleborn and no one has bothered to try and help me learn about the magical world," Harry told the portrait, almost stiffly. "I am doing the best I can to save a world I love. Like Lord Voldemort, I have first hand experience on how vicious muggles can be and am aware of how easy it would be for them to wipe us from existence."

"The filth could never defeat us!" Bellatrix protested.

"Oh? A single muggle can destroy Hogwarts completely with the right tools," Harry informed her coldly, turning to face his insane cousin. "Name a place, any place, and it would only take, at most, a handful of specially trained and equipped muggles to utterly destroy it. Hell, a muggle child could do it if they were handed the device and told how to trigger it. For that matter, there are other methods that would allow you to kill an entire country without getting anywhere near them. We. Would. Be. _DEAD_!"

"Bombs," Voldemort agreed softly, his amusement completely gone, his eyes blazing with a combination of sorrow, hatred, anger, and fear. "There is no ward in existence that can withstand some of the bombs that the muggles have created. Not a single bit of magic that would help anyone to survive such an attack and it would kill so many. Those who have already died in the last three wars would be nothing compared to the death toll should the muggles decide to start exterminating us. One of the very reasons I wanted to take control of our world, restrict or eliminate the muggleborns and make the Statute of Secrecy stronger."

"Leaving muggleborns with muggles who are often scared of them and mistreat them is the height of stupidity," Snape practically drawled from where he had been standing on the stairs just above their heads. "Admittedly some of them wind up in the other houses and have perfectly normal childhoods before coming to Hogwarts, but many of those sorted into Slytherin have been abused in some fashion."

"One thing that you all need to be aware of is that the idea of a magical world, and being able to be a part of it? To live in it? That is irresistible to most muggleborns and they will fight to keep it. It's the current laws restricting them and making it so that they can't even survive in the magical world that is causing many of them to live and work in the muggle world," Harry explained wearily. "You scorn us for not knowing things, and sneer at our blunders. Yet you also won't try to fix it. You don't help. You don't teach us. All of the information, when we go looking for it, is missing. Not a single pureblood is willing to associate with us and by extension _teach_ us what is needed. How can we fulfill your expectations, not to mention honor and protect a world we love if none of you are willing to give us the information we _need_ to do that?"

The silence that enveloped not only the hall but the entire house was deafening. It was almost as if it wasn't just the people inside the building straining to hear what was happening but the building and the magic itself that was waiting to hear what he had to say. Unbeknownst to those in the hall, that's exactly what was happening, the magic of the house had picked up on the sincere wish of the family lord for his words to be heard and was ensuring that it happened.

"The first time I met Draco he said things that didn't make any sense to me. I had no idea what he was talking about, casually mentioning brooms and quidditch, and asking me what house I was going to be in. He was less concerned that my parents were dead then the fact that they might not be magical and claiming that Hogwarts shouldn't let people attend who didn't have magical parents. I had barely been introduced to the magical world for two or three _hours_. I had no idea what the bloody hell he was talking about and from what I _could_ tell I would be considered just as much a freak among the wizarding world as I was among muggles, simply because I wasn't raised in the magical world." Harry explained almost patiently before dropping his voice into a much softer, almost cajoling tone. "How exactly do you expect to keep magical blood from leaving the magical world when you treat people as if they should have never been born and, as far as they know, they have done nothing that might warrant such treatment? I was almost one of them, still am really. I very nearly preferred to return to being abused, over returning to the wizarding world. How do you think the others feel? What you all have done is practically destroy yourselves."

"How?" Walburga asked quietly. "By not treating them as if they may actually be the equal of a pureblood?"

"Not just that," Harry said almost gently. "You've not been allowing new blood into your families for so long that you've actually weakened the bloodlines. Old illnesses that would normally lay dormant in your blood are awakening because you've refused to add new blood to help strengthen the old and possibly even eliminate the illnesses with the infusion of new blood. It's called genetics. It's also probably part of the reason that so many squibs have been born in recent years and why so many of the old families only have one or two children. I bet if we check the records at St. Mungo's we'll find loads of purebloods loosing babies before they're born, or being born dead. How many survive to be five years old versus how many times a woman becomes pregnant? Can you answer me that? On top of that, I bet that every muggleborn is descended from a squib or someone who left the wizarding world if you go far enough back."

"I never thought to look into that," Voldemort said pensively, a thoughtful look on his face. "I have heard of genetics, though there wasn't much on it at the time and the Nazis were doing a lot of the work on prisoners during the war."

"That's where a lot of the original information came from," Harry confirmed. "We learned about it and why it's important in muggle primary school. They didn't just capture, kill, and torture their prisoners, they _experimented_ on them like lab rats. Genetics is also the reason why marrying someone who's a second cousin or closer is a bad idea. I think you have to get a special exemption if you want to marry your second cousin in the muggle world, and anything closer isn't allowed and gets you put in jail for trying. I had to do Dudley's paper on it over the summer before my second year, so I know a bit more about it than just what they taught in class. It's really interesting but also one of the other reasons that muggles finding out about us is so bad."

"Really? Why?" Bellatrix asked, enthralled at the new information and disgusted by the fact that _muggles_ had discovered what was killing so many of the purebloods. It never occurred to her that had someone paid proper attention to the scientific advancements instead of scorning them and tried to keep on top of the research, possibly even publishing it in a wizarding periodical, then the wizarding world might have actually been aware of it sooner.

"The study of genetics, or rather of the bloodlines and what makes up the bloodlines and the special traits that go with each bloodline is, in its own way, dangerous. If they have enough information and samples from magical people and creatures, even if those same people _can't_ access their magic, they could truly steal the secret of magic from our very blood," Voldemort explained in a soft and subdued tone of voice. "They could turn themselves magical, or decide that we need to be torn apart to find out where magic comes from, or they could capture us and use us as slaves and cattle. Or, they could simply decide we need to die, that we are too much of a threat to allow to live. We would, once again, have to face the so-called Christian church and the witch hunts of old. Only this time they have more tools and methods at their disposal. We would not be able to hide. Not again."

"There is a slight chance that it's only a small group who has found out about us and decided to find out exactly who and what we are but it won't stay that way, no matter how hard we or they try to keep it a secret," Harry pointed out, exhaustion finally catching up with him as he started to sway on his feet. Voldemort quickly stepped forward and caught him before Harry managed to fall.

"Potter," Snape called out as Voldemort started to lead Harry away to lay down. They turned back to face the Potions Master, questioning looks on their faces. "We will be discussing the abuse you mentioned, and why you never came to one of the staff so that we could do something about it."

"I did," Harry admitted wearily, unconsciously leaning into the supporting side of the Dark Lord even as his exhaustion loosened his tongue. "I told Dumbledore but he said it wasn't safe to take me from the Dursley's and that I was being ungrateful. I never understood how wanting a proper bed and at least one proper meal each day is being ungrateful."

"It isn't," Voldemort soothed, fury flashing in his eyes, unseen by the young man in his arms. "Come, Potter. Let's get you into bed. You've done a lot of magic and we don't want you drained further. Narcissa and Bellatrix can get the house elves to help us and find us some food and Severus should know where everything is."

"Only one crazy elf," Harry told him, his words slurring a bit as his head tried to loll. "Had to argue with it for your damned locket."

"My locket?" Voldemort asked, pausing for a moment before starting to move again and finally settling Harry on to the couch he'd found before chasing everyone else out of the room.

"It turned into a tattoo with the sword. Why doesn't my head hurt near you any more? It got worse after I destroyed your diary and after Dumbledore stopped wearing the stupid ring that cursed him," Harry told him, sleep drunk. "It's like something happened to my scar. Like the memory in the diary made it worse or something." Harry finally dropped off to sleep, leaving behind a very worried and confused Dark Lord to puzzle through his sleep drunk induced words of wisdom.

The shouting woke Harry two hours later. With a pained groan, Harry muttered and tried to turn over, attempting to inch his way to the edge of the bed. Unfortunately for him, he was on a couch, and as a result he fell off the edge with a small yelp of surprise and landed hard on his side. Swearing softly, Harry sat up and rubbed at his sore landing spot before forcing himself to stand up. Hearing another round of shouting he limped toward the door, the limp disappearing after he rested his head against the door for a moment before stepping out into chaos. 

Harry stood back against the wall for a moment to try and figure out just what the hell was going on, absently noting that Voldemort had arrived at about the same time as him and was doing the exact same thing. Everything changed the moment he spotted the bright green light of a Killing Curse about to leave the end of Lucius Malfoy's wand. Harry lunged, just barely managing to deflect the blond's aim up into the top of a fur tapestry, starting a small fire, and stopping Arthur Weasley from dying.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!" Harry shouted at the man, wrestling his wand away from him.

"He insulted my family," Malfoy Senior informed Harry indignantly, even as he straightened his clothes and stood up straight. "Just because he's one of your pet blood-traitors doesn't give him the right to insult his betters."

"Did you not listen to a word I said earlier? Until the muggles are dealt with there is no light and no dark! Only magical and non-magical," Harry growled in frustration.

"I don't believe that I answer to you," Lucius said with a sneer. "Not only that but there is an ongoing blood feud between the Malfoy and Weasley families. You have no right to interfere. Now, give me back my wand, boy!"

"You do, however, answer to me," Voldemort pointed out softly, coming up behind his counter-part to stand just behind him. "Did I not make it clear that I agreed with Mr. Potter? Was I in some way ambiguous in my instructions while he was resting from helping us and opening one of his homes to us?"

"My lord, I simply..." Lucius began nervously only to be cut off by his lord.

"No! I made my position known. I was certain that I had made the risks and the dangers perfectly clear to all here," Voldemort reminded coldly, danger practically dancing along his words and tone. "Until this situation is resolved _all_ disagreements, feuds, and the war are on hold. You know the price for failure and disobedience, Lucius. _Crucio!_ "

Harry hadn't even seen the man take out his wand before he was casting the curse. Lucius let out a short half choked scream of pain before managing to silence himself as he endured his punishment. Ten seconds in, he was on his knees, desperately flexing his muscles, trying not to let them lock up and force him into thrashing about on the floor. Sixty seconds in and he could no longer hold his silence. The blond began screaming. 

Harry bit his lip and stepped back, allowing the Dark Lord to discipline his people as he saw fit, no matter how much he hated it. He hated seeing any creature in pain and most any human as well. There were a few exceptions where he wouldn't mind seeing them suffering under Voldemort's crucio, Bellatrix being one of them for killing Sirius, but there weren't all that many.

A moment later Voldemort stopped, leaving the panting and disheveled Malfoy Lord at his feet. He had stopped far sooner than originally intended, and he wasn't entirely sure why. The only clue he had was that he seemed to be sensing distress coming from his Gryffindor counterpart. He wasn't even certain _how_ he was picking up on Harry's distress, which confused him even further.

"Lucius, had your spell landed you wouldn't have simply been subjected to my Cruciatus," Voldemort informed the blond coldly, mentally setting aside this latest puzzle piece about the young lion for later. "You know that I do not tolerate disobedience. Weasley, you owe Potter a life debt."

"Gladly," Arthur said softly, with a look of thanks sent toward Harry, who merely nodded in acknowledgement and sent back a wry grin of his own.

"Lucius, apologize for attempting to waste magical blood," Voldemort ordered before stepping aside to stand next to Harry again. Knowing that they needed to present a strong united front from now on. Lucius dragged himself to his feet, gritting his teeth from both pain and humiliation even as he turned to face Arthur Weasley and the rest of the room.

"I apologize," Lucius said through gritted teeth, as he leaned heavily on his cane, which for once he was actually using as a cane.

"I accept. A word of warning; my twin sons will not take lightly to almost having to watch their father be murdered in front of them. I won't stop them from trying to prank you. You'll have to ask Harry to stop them, if they get out of hand," Arthur said stiffly. Evil glee lit up the eyes of both twins at his words. Harry saw their gleeful reaction and shook his head in rueful amusement, knowing that Lord Malfoy was in for it.

"Nothing harmful or lethal," Harry warned the twins, who both nodded vigorously before dashing off to plot, practically running over Snape half hidden in the shadows of the doorway. Lucius looked at his friend, his gaze diverted from the rushing twins, eyebrow raised at Snape's expression, which was a cross between vicious glee and pity for his old friend.

"Do I want to know?" Lucius asked slowly.

"You remember how the Marauders treated me?" Snape asked almost pleasantly, an evil smirk gracing his features. Lucius nodded slowly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Let me put it to you this way; there is a reason I call those two menaces and why Mr. Potter truly did need to place those restrictions. This way you might actually survive nearly killing their father. Those two wouldn't have stopped at pointing me toward Lupin on the full moon if they thought I was a real threat. Instead they would have knocked me out, stripped me down, and tied me naked to a tree near the acromantula nest in the Forbidden Forest. You're especially lucky since they will obey Potter without hesitation." At his words Lucius paled and looked toward Harry almost pleadingly. Harry just arched his eyebrow as if asking what Lucius wanted him to do about it. 

"You brought it on yourself," Harry told him with a careless shrug, earning a snort of amusement from the Dark Lord. Voldemort made a mental note that if they ever had to fight the light side again, or at least Harry and his faithful, to take out or subvert the twins first.

In the following days, the twins tormented Lucius without reprieve, to the point that they had the man jumping at shadows and pleading with Harry to call the twin terrors off. Harry, along with most everyone else, including Voldemort, merely watched the twins hunt and prank the blond relentlessly with growing amusement and enjoyment. They even managed to get Draco more than once, often pretending that they had simply missed their real target by accident. 

Draco had to wander around for more than an hour in clothes that were at least three sizes too small for him until his mother found him and reversed the shrinking spell on his clothes. Lucius, on the other hand, was found an hour later stuffed inside a closet, having tripped on a rug while he tried to clear the bright yellow goop from his eyes and hair. The very same goop that slowly changed his hair color from a white-blond to a lovely lavender and made him itch all over. Lucius was embarrassed to find out that him falling into the closet and being locked in truly was an accident. The twins had no clue that it had happened, nor that the closet locked so easily with the slightest jarring of the latch.

To be fair, Harry was fairly certain that a few of the pranks that hit Draco probably were originally meant for Lucius. He was, however, also sure that the hair curling and braiding hex that made the blond look like Shirley Temple was aimed specifically at the Slytherin Prince. It was, after all, fairly well known that the prat was vain and practically in love with his hair, while his father tended to simply prefer to keep a clean and respectably well groomed appearance. The twins didn't seem to care all that much _who_ they pranked as long as they eventually had their revenge on the Malfoy Lord. This carelessness would eventually bring about their downfall.

Between Molly, Narcissa, Kreacher (who was much happier working with the black sisters in the house), a couple of the Aurors, and, oddly enough the three Lestrange's there was always enough food to go around. They would occasionally send out groups, always with someone who had grown up in the muggle world, for supplies and food stuffs to sustain such a large group and spread the word as to the new truce along with the new threat. The warning was enough to save dozens of families, but it still didn't save many who lived in mostly muggle areas, or those who had been targeted by the scientists' "helpers". That, however, still wasn't enough to satisfy the more nurturing members of their slightly mismatched group. As a result the morning, a few days after they had first arrived at Grimmauld place, both Lords of Magic found themselves facing down a group of rather insistent women, who had finally cornered them, surprisingly, in the library.

"Harry? Could we have a word with you and the Dark Lord, please?" Molly asked calmly, as she managed to shoo everyone but the two lords out of the room with a single stern look. The small group of women consisted of Molly Weasley, Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix, and Hermione, all looking frustrated and stern as they stood before the two powerful men.

"Hermione? Mrs. Weasley? What's wrong?" Harry asked as he set aside the book he had been studying, presuming that the two Black sisters were there to speak to Voldemort rather than him.

"Ladies?" Voldemort asked, eyebrows arched in question as they approached the two of them. Coincidentally interrupting his study of the puzzling lion seated across from him even as he, himself reviewed one of the more advanced defense texts from the Black library.

"We all need to start eating together, proper meals. Not just popping into the kitchen and grabbing something before running off again," Hermione said bluntly, pretending for the moment that she was simply talking to Harry rather than the both of them as she explained their problem. "I can't keep track of the supplies and of whether we have everything we need in the emergency bags, when people keep taking it willy nilly. Supplies keep disappearing, as does food. That's fine for now because we have people getting new supplies regularly and Kreacher can shop for us in Diagon Alley in an emergency. Not to mention that if we want this to work, properly work, we need to stop spending time on opposite sides of the house with only a few people moving between the groups. We need to start spending proper time together without trying to hex each other."

"My lord, you started the process when you stood by Mr. Potter's intervention a few days ago. Without standing together and trusting one another to at least act appropriately in public or in battle, as any pureblood family would, we risk failing at a critical moment." Narcissa explained quietly. "What Miss Granger was attempting to say is that, for the next step in the light and the dark working together, as well as allowing us to be certain that everyone has actually eaten, we would like everyone to start eating meals together at the same table."

"They promised that I could curse anyone who doesn't come to meals, my lord!" Bellatrix informed them gleefully. "I've been getting _so **bored**_ , master. The twin redheads are amusing but I don't get to curse the blood-traitors and mudbloods."

Harry sighed heavily in weariness as he rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the building headache. Voldemort, on the other hand, gazed at the small mixed group of women almost speculatively, noting that while not entirely comfortable in each other's presence they still stood as one on this issue. Hermione boldly met the Dark Lord's gaze, knowing that if they didn't insist now that Harry would be skipping meals. They had a hard enough time getting him to eat enough as it was.

Voldemort saw these thoughts as they flashed through the young witch's mind as he casually scanned the surface thoughts. He stumbled upon more than one memory of needing to send Harry food over the summer and how gaunt he tended to be at the opening feast. He also saw various memories of them failing to obtain food while they were hunting Horcruxes as Dumbledore had instructed them to do. The memory of them tired, hungry, and studying what they could on Horcruxes in their tent late at night had him quickly standing up, robes flaring, hissing in absolute fury. He barely noticed sensing the sudden halt of Snape's magical signature just outside of the library in the shadow of the doorway.

"What..." Harry started, only to be cut off by the sight of Hermione's stricken and apologetic look at him.

"So the old fool found out about my treasures and had you trying to destroy them," Voldemort said, cold fury evident in his every motion. "If you want this... alliance to work, you will be handing over any that you have collected and cease trying to locate them. You will also refrain from destroying them. If they ever land within your grasp you will obtain them and deliver them to me as soon as possible. I will want a binding vow to that effect from all of those loyal to Potter and all who have knowledge of them."

"Yeah, we sort of figured you'd want that when we decided to work with you," Harry said tiredly from his seat behind the furious Dark Lord, even as said Dark Lord turned to face him, glaring all the while. "The thing is, the only one we've got is your locket and it's turned into a tattoo along with the sword of Gryffindor. It's on my arm where Snape's got your mark. We haven't figured out how to change them back. For some reason I can sense them. Dumbledore thought the diary I fought in the chamber during second year was one, and the ring that cursed his hand. The locket that Dumbledore helped retrieve in the cave was a decoy. Regulus had taken the original and hidden it here but then 'Dung stole it and Umbridge had it. Remember when we broke into the Ministry a little while ago? We were getting the locket off the toad. Haven't figured out where the others are yet. I keep thinking that vision or dream or whatever when I was Nagini and biting Mr. Weasley just before Christmas is important to all of this but I can't quite figure out why. If you can get the damn locket off my arm, preferably without taking my arm with it, I'll give it back."

"Harry!" Hermione's distressed tone carried a number of messages, most of which only Harry could interpret at the moment. That single word carried her apology, her dislike of giving up their important mission, and her acknowledgement of Harry's right to make that decision as the leader. Harry nodded slightly and looked over her shoulder to meet obsidian eyes glittering in the shadow of the doorway where Snape had just stepped through.

"Since you've decided _not_ to continue, and the Dark Lord most likely suspects already, there was one more... treasure that would have needed to be destroyed. One that the Dark Lord was never aware of making," Snape told them quietly, self-loathing evident in his voice even as he kept to their unspoken agreement not to specify exactly what was being discussed.

"What?" Hermione asked quickly, hoping to get the answer out of the potions master before they had to run, not realizing that it was already far too late for that.

"Mr. Potter's scar," Snape said softly. It took a moment for the three who were fully informed of the surreal conversation to process what he had said and its implications and when they finally sunk in he was met with shocked disbelief. 

Voldemort quickly whipped out his wand and cast the detection spell he had used when making his other Horcruxes. The double positive and strange extra echo he got back had ice driving into his very core. Had he killed Harry he would have killed a piece of his own soul. Casting it again, this time with more power and an extra flare for more details, he examined the results much more closely. What he discovered was that Harry was actually carrying _three_ pieces of his soul, one of which was clearly from his diary, being the biggest of the three. The smallest must have been torn from him the night the Potters died and _that_ shard was so tightly interwoven with Harry's own soul and magical core that the only way to remove it now would be death by _his_ hand, and possibly not even then.

"It looks like I can't afford to kill you," Voldemort said with a harsh laugh of shocked self-loathing that had almost everyone instinctively flinching back at the ugly sound. "From what the spell showed it can't be removed. The only chance would be if you died by my hand, by my wand. As long as one of us survives neither of us can die."

"What?" Harry asked, completely bewildered, his mind not having properly caught up with the information yet.

"Harry, if what Professor Snape said is right, to make Professor Dumbledore's plan work... you would have had to die," Hermione explained, tears in her eyes. 

Harry just stared at her in shock as his mind finally caught up with the information and the implications of Voldemort confirming that Harry himself, was indeed a Horcrux. The Gryffindor slumped in his chair looking ill, either at the prospect of carrying a piece of Voldemort's soul or having to die to make the man mortal enough to be stopped, Hermione wasn't sure. Snape sighed before slipping around everyone and carefully approaching his charge. Ignoring the fact that there were other people in the room, he pulled Harry up from his chair and into his arms, offering what comfort he could to the young man who had been raised specifically to die at the right time. Harry started to cry quietly into the older man's robes, the events and shocking information finally breaking his emotional control.

"What just happened?" Molly asked carefully, not entirely sure she had understood the drama that had played out before the three pureblood women, even as she eyed Harry in genuine concern.

"What happened is that _Dumbledore_ decided that the life of a single magical child was worth sacrificing to try and bring me down. It was the _light's_ policies that revealed us to the muggles, not mine, and not my methods, though they could have if the war had continued to drag on," Voldemort informed her, fury still lacing his tone, but this time the fury was aimed at the man who had refused to help him and had turned a child into a weapon, no matter how well meaning the reasons behind his actions. "Severus, stay. Ladies, we'll have to further discuss your meal plans later. For now simply remove everyone from the kitchen and prepare supper. I will ensure that everyone is in attendance tonight."

"Yes, my lord," Narcissa said with a slight bow and a worried look sent toward Harry, as she ushered her sister and Molly Weasley from the room with Hermione's help, closing the door behind them and leaving the three men alone.


	3. Dance, Dance, Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's mood is dark. He's tense, he's depressed and too upset by recent discoveries. Hermione takes matters into her own hands, and she ends up de-stressing most of the house's other inhabitants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took _far_ too much effort to write! *glares at Chibi* -Genuka  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> o.o *looks back innocently* You know you love me! -ChibiAyane
> 
> There is a bit of crack in this chapter. You've been warned.

Voldemort watched the quietly crying Gryffindor even as his anger began to properly cool. He reviewed what he knew about his counter-part, his Horcruxes, the general situation, and the special circumstances that led to the most recent revelations. He didn't like what his mental picture was showing to him. Oh, he knew how dangerous all of this was but he was sort of unconsciously relieved that he had _someone_ who wouldn't leave him behind, someone who wouldn't die until he did. 

While he might have preferred someone else had he been given the choice, the Dark Lord found, with the new information he was gathering, that he wasn't sure he minded having to spend eternity with Potter. At least his life would be interesting, he might even manage to keep the brat out of trouble. He knew it was also pretty much a given that they would find themselves dueling, possibly with alarming frequency, even if it was only over a difference of opinion. 

Voldemort rather looked forward to that, and a time when they were truly evenly matched. As long as they both avoided using Fiendfyre and the Killing Curse, there was no real risk that they couldn't be healed or otherwise revived. That decided, he returned his musing mind's attention to his surroundings. He noticed with silent approval that Harry seemed to be accepting comfort from Snape fairly easily... too easily. Their gazes met and he saw only concern, and relief that the man no longer had to hide the fact that he was protecting his charge from his long time friend and master in the dark man's eyes. Voldemort's jealousy eased, banking to more manageable levels as he watched the potions master hug and sooth the young lion as if he were his own son, without the slightest hint of lust or anything but parental concern.

Hermione checked on them an hour later to find both older wizards researching and keeping an eye on a brooding but once more dry eyed Harry. She frowned at the sight of him curled up in his chair, his shoulders hunched into a near painful tenseness that could not have been comfortable. She noticed that both men were paying more attention to her friend than to the books they were supposedly searching, clearly worried for him, despite or perhaps because of the rage that Voldemort had displayed earlier. With a deep sigh of resignation she quietly shut the door on the library and quickly went to find Ron and her enchanted handbag.

Almost everyone who stumbled upon Ron and Hermione in the next hour were sent away in confusion, wondering what the hell the two of them were doing. Only the twins managed to get anything out of them and when they did the two redheads refused to explain to anyone else even as they helped the other two set up. Hermione had successfully retrieved the MP3 player she had enchanted to run on magic, but was still working on getting it to pick up the Wizarding Wireless, from her bag. Plugging in the special headphones that she had inscribed runes on, as well as sketching a relay rune onto various places on the walls, so that it would act like an expensive stereo system. The finishing touch was when she used a strong sticking charm to attach the mp3 player to one of the walls as the others finished decorating the room. All that was left was getting Harry into the room and turning on the music.

Hermione pondered a moment before a truly evil smile graced her face, spooking both twins who had the misfortune to glance at her at just the right moment. Very calmly, with an evil smirk worthy of the Hogwarts' Dungeon Bat, she fiddled with the playlist on the MP3 player. Moments later the first bars of "Hero" by Skillet echoed through the house. The sudden sound startled Harry into falling out of his chair in the library and landing hard on the hardwood floor even as he scrambled up, shooting from the room in search of the source of the music, eventually stumbling into the prepared sitting room. 

Harry stared at the decorated room in shock. His gaze finally landed on a beaming Hermione, as he ignored the two older wizards who had shot out of the library after him. He unconsciously changed the gaudy golden robes he had been wearing since their escape to a set of dark clothes that wouldn't get in his way while dancing, which ended up being tight jeans and a contour hugging button up shirt, finishing the transformation just as he entered the converted room. The young light lord quirked an eyebrow at the witch and released a delighted laugh that mesmerized everyone who heard it, distracting them from his remarkable change in attire. 

Hermione smiled at her friend and quickly randomized the playlist before gleefully pulling him into a dance in the middle of the room as the current song wound down, switching over to "Butterfly" by Crazy Town. The twins grinned at each other before casting a spell simultaneously at the ceiling, creating a sort of half disco ball to play multicolored lights over the room as they danced, turning the room into a proper dance area. The music didn't take long to draw the attention of the other inhabitants of the house to watch or join in. 

In one of the expanded upstairs rooms, Draco Malfoy and his small group of Slytherins looked up from whatever they were doing at the blast of music suddenly reverberating through the house. They shared looks of consternation, confusion, curiosity, and annoyance before they all looked toward Draco, silently asking what he thought they should do. Draco scowled at them before nodding sharply to himself and setting aside his book.

"Elf!" The blond Slytherin Prince called in annoyance, causing Kreacher to pop into the room in a frighteningly happy mood and bow to the Malfoy Heir. "What the devil is that noise? And why is it attempting to shake the house to pieces?"

"Mud-Muggleborn Granger is torturing Blood-Traitor Weasley and Master Harry with _very_ vigorous muggle dancing," Kreacher said happily after correcting himself. His master had told him not to call anyone Mudblood. The young Slytherins stared at him in shock and apprehension, before exchanging an expectant look and quickly setting aside their various activities.

" _This_ I have got to see!" Blaise declared, with muttered agreements from his fellows, as he headed out of the room. What they found in the expanded parlor that Hermione had converted was a mini dance club, complete with loud music, flashing lights, and confused adults, some even in various stages of horror. 

At first, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins who had all made their way toward the music, had a stand off across the room which the twins and surprisingly Blaise Zabini were forced to break up by dragging or shoving various people onto the dance floor. By the time the MP3 player had switched to "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" by Fall Out Boy, more than half of both sides were enjoying the impromptu dance party and actually dancing.

When the music first came on, Molly stuck her head into the room to see what new disaster the younger generation might be getting up to. When she saw how they had outfitted the room, the Weasley Matriarch simply shook her head and headed back to the kitchen, muttering something about the noise being better than attempted murder or explosions. Arthur, equally drawn by the music, simply watched them in fond bemusement, having experienced the phenomena more than once at the Burrow. 

Bellatrix was eventually found off in one corner, watching with interest and quietly cackling to herself as she watched the near impossible contortions that the dancers were displaying. While Narcissa watched in obvious disapproval and made an abortive move to pull Draco to her side as she saw the younger Slytherins arrive, drawn by the music. Lucius, also drawn by the music, had stationed himself next to Voldemort and Snape against one wall. The twins gleefully danced close around a skittish Draco, making Lucius' eye twitch violently at both the dancing and the music.

Voldemort and Snape's gazes, on the other hand, were drawn to the darkly clad writhing figure of the young light lord, one in jealousy and one in protective amusement. Harry happily danced with, around, and up against Hermione as his clothing seemed to turn him into a virtual shadow devil or a dark Jinn in the flashing dance lights. Both closely observing men easily noticed Blaise making his way through the dancing throng like the serpent that represented his house. 

The young male Slytherin slipped up behind the Golden Gryffindor and danced as close as he could to his oblivious former classmate, even lightly brushing up against him. Upon seeing this, Voldemort's eyes blazed in a possessive fury. First the blazing jealousy focused on the young snake encroaching on _his_ territory. Then his mind unaccountably jumped to the other people who were or had been close to the Gryffindor prince, it even jumped to the fact that his little lion had spent so much time running away from him with Weasley and Granger, and gods knew who else. The thought of Harry, his horcrux, in a possible relationship with anyone but _him_ without his permission was infuriating. The Dark Lord's fury continued to build as he watched them dance before he was distracted by a slightly disturbed comment from Lucius nearly an hour later.

"What?" Voldemort asked, distracted, still watching them dance as his fury suddenly drained away.

"I merely commented on the drivel being spouted by the so called singers, my Lord," Lucius admitted just loud enough to be heard over the music, a disturbed look on his face, primly ignoring Arthur who wandered over to join their little group. "Do the muggles truly listen to this rubbish?" He had to ask because the current song was blatantly about... certain sexual fetishes.

"The song writers focus on what they know and many indulge in some of the worst excesses possible in the muggle world," Snape explained, sending a furious glare toward where the MP3 player was stuck to the wall. "Just be glad that the little brats will be exhausted when they're done dancing."

"That's one of the reasons that Hermione makes them join her when she wants to dance," Arthur confirmed, shouting just a bit to be heard over the sudden surge in music, that picked up a heavier beat. His head idly bobbed to the music, a small smile on his face, as he watched the children enjoy themselves. Something they all deserved after everything they've been through lately. Let them be children while they can. "Molly is making extra food, since she knows how hungry they'll be when we can finally get them to stop. They've done this at the Burrow often enough after all. The dancing and music benefits Harry the most. He'll be too exhausted to suffer from nightmares tonight. According to Ron, Hermione routinely drags most of Gryffindor house into dancing on the weekends. I think Percy had to talk to her about how loud the music was a few times while he was still Prefect." He gave a wry smile. "Apparently, that only made her turn the music up louder. Dancing and music seems to be the only thing that she's actually defiant about," he added as an afterthought, as he watched his twin sons dance in perfect sync of each other, which had some of the others standing back to watch in amusement.

"Dear god! You mean to tell me they do this all the time?!" Lucius asked horrified.

"Lucius, you've forgotten some of the parties we had in Slytherin house while in school," Snape said with a snort of amusement.

"Is Potter seeing anyone?" Voldemort asked silkily, somewhat out of the blue, having decided that he might as well try to learn more about his little horcrux since he had the chance.

"Not that I know of," Arthur said with a shrug. "As far as I can tell Harry sees Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George as siblings. Not that Ginny wouldn't love to marry him. I can't get Molly to stop encouraging Ginny's crush on the poor boy. He simply doesn't see her like that and neither of them will listen. I know he sees Malfoy's son as a rival. Except when he's dealing with trying to stay alive, then Harry just sees him as an annoyance. I honestly think that Harry hasn't even tried anything, but you'd have to ask him to be sure. I try not to get involved in that part of my children's lives." Lucius' eye twitched again at the obvious disregard for pureblood traditions by the Weasleys.

It was a little more than two hours later, nearly three and a half hours from when they first started, that someone stumbled into the MP3 player and accidentally hit the power button and suddenly cut off the sound. Most of the dancers groaned and thankfully sank to the floor, completely exhausted. Hermione on the other hand, tried to make her way through the piled bodies to turn the music back on, only for her hand to be caught by Arthur Weasley on its way toward the button.

"I think that's enough for now," Arthur said mildly, earning a bit of a glare from the young lady, which he returned with his own steady parentally authoritative gaze.

"Thank Merlin! That was far too addictive!" Draco declared from his collapsed location somewhere on the floor. He'd somehow managed to slip away from his mother and end up in the thick of the dancing bodies on the dance floor. Harry snickered from his place flat on his back a few feet away, a happy smile on his face and a contented sigh escaping him, as he relaxed from all the exertion. This was just what he needed. He'd never really been much for dancing, but then Hermione came along with her 'daily exercise' that she dragged the rest of Gryffindor house into. Thankfully, school made it impossible for her to do it everyday, but it quickly became a house favorite when it came to parties and weekends, and it always made everyone sleep exceptionally well on those nights.

"Fine," Hermione said, slumping a bit as Arthur released her wrist. She canceled the charm on the player and collected the enchanted headsets before going around the room and scrubbing out the runes she'd used to simulate the presence of speakers. Everyone else simply lay where they had fallen and groaned for a few minutes, until Narcissa chivvied them all up onto their feet and practically dragged them toward the kitchen for supper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who care, this is the playlist in order of artist that they were listening to. It's comprised of dance appropriate music and fast paced songs with lyrics that are just generally appropriate to the people who are dancing to it. It's a long list but, hey! (A lot of these are what I, ChibiAyane, listen to while daydreaming about Harry Potter.) =D Enjoy! You can check out all of these songs on Grooveshark.com, if you want.
> 
> Falling Down - Atreyu  
> Barbie Girl - Aqua  
> 369 - B.o.B. featuring B.O.B.B.Y. IV and Cupid  
> I.D.G.A.F. - Blood On The Dance Floor  
> Let It Go - Brit & Alex  
> Ridin' (Dirty) - Chamillionaire  
> Butterfly - Crazy Town  
> The Greatest Show Unearthed - Creature Feature  
> Fancy Footwork - Chromeo  
> I Am (All of Me) - Crush 40  
> Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk  
> Good Man - Devour The Day  
> Enter My Mind - Drain STH  
> Cinderella Man - Eminem  
> Centuries - Fall Out Boy  
> My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) - Fall Out Boy  
> The Phoenix - Fall Out Boy  
> Thanks For The Memories - Fall Out Boy  
> Cradle To The Grave - Five Finger Death Punch  
> No One Gets Left Behind - Five Finger Death Punch  
> Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida featuring David Guetta  
> Right Round - Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha  
> Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage  
> Freak Like Me - Halestorm  
> When The Lights Go Out In London - Heaven's Basement  
> Black Dahlia - Hollywood Undead  
> This Love, This Hate - Hollywood Undead  
> I Bet My Life - Imagine Dragons  
> Radioactive - Imagine Dragons  
> Up - Jessie McCartney  
> Bad Reputation - Joan Jett  
> Dark Horse - Katy Perry featuring Juicy J  
> Roar - Katy Perry  
> E.T. - Katy Perry  
> Timber - Ke$ha featuring Pitbull  
> Blow - Ke$ha  
> Tik Tok - Ke$ha  
> We R Who We R - Ke$ha  
> Milkshake - Kelis  
> Super Girl - Krystal Harris  
> Born This Way - Lady Gaga  
> Poker Face - Lady Gaga  
> Starstruck - Lady Gaga  
> Love Game - Lady Gaga  
> Come With Us - Lindsey Stirling featuring Can't Stop Won't Stop  
> Stars Align - Lindsey Stirling  
> A Light That Never Comes - Linkin Park featuring Steve Aoki  
> We Made It - Linkin Park featuring Busta Rhymes  
> Lost In The Echo - Linkin Park  
> When They Come For Me - Linkin Park  
> Pts. of Athrty (Reanimation) - Linkin Park  
> Lies Greed Misery - Linkin Park  
> Can't Hold Us - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis  
> mOBSCENE - Marilyn Manson  
> Can't Be Tamed - Miley Cyrus  
> Spotlight - MUTEMATH  
> When We Stand Together - Nickelback  
> Starships - Nicki Minaj  
> Defy You - The Offspring  
> The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage - Panic At The Disco  
> To Be Loved - Papa Roach  
> Get The Party Started - Pink  
> The Never-Ending Why - Placebo  
> Right Now - Rihanna featuring David Guetta  
> Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna  
> S&M - Rihanna  
> Hero - Skillet  
> Monster - Skillet  
> This Instant - Sofia Fresh featuring T-Pain  
> Anthem - Superchick  
> One Girl Revolution [Battle Mix] - Superchick  
> Cross The Line - Superchick  
> Just Like You - Three Days Grace  
> DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again - Usher featuring Pitbull  
> I Was Born, I Have Lived, I Will Surely Die - Young Guns


	4. Dinner, Duels, and Pranks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry raises prankster hell! It turns out to have terrifying consequences.

Narcissa knew she would have a slightly easier time getting the "Dark" side to the table, having had to make her iron will felt more than once. Especially since her husband was the Dark Lord's right hand and their dear friend, Severus, was his left hand. As a result, most of the Slytherins in the house pretty much had first pick of where they wanted to sit at dinner. They situated themselves mostly along one side of the table, though there were a few on the other. They left spaces for certain people between them; the dark wizards who hadn't made it into the kitchen yet. However, a moment after they were seated, everyone else ambled in and the Gryffindors simply dropped themselves into whatever seat was closest, too tired to care who they were sitting next to.

Neville wound up next to Bellatrix, giving a small "Eep!" when he realized who was sitting next to him. She gave a small cackle and a deranged look in response, delighting in Neville's obvious discomfort. The twins made sure they were sitting to either side of Lucius, bracketing the man and smirking at the involuntary nervous twitches they were causing the older wizard to display. Snape and Narcissa were hiding their own smirks. They had ignored the very seats that the twins had commandeered in favor of sitting across from Lucius, to watch the inevitable show and be less likely to get caught in the prank laced crossfire.

When Harry finally ambled into the room a moment later, Voldemort sent a glare at the twin (George), who had taken the seat just to his right between him and Lucius. The twin wisely said nothing and moved to sit on the other side of his identical brother, while gently maneuvering the happily tired Light Lord into the vacated seat. This coincidentally placed the Dark Lord at the head of the jointly attended table and Harry at his right, where his spouse or his second in command would normally sit.

Needless to say, Voldemort's very obvious placement of Harry's seating arrangements did not go unnoticed. As a result, most of the rescued adults and older students - especially the Slytherins, suddenly had a very good idea of what the Dark Lord possibly intended for Harry to become. A few of the younger crowd noticed but didn't care, unwilling or unable to acknowledge the Dark Lord's claim on the younger wizard. If there were any doubts in the minds of those who understood Harry's placement at the table, they were rather firmly and, for a Slytherin, blatantly disabused of their misconceptions a moment later.

Voldemort had noticed Harry's small portion size when the younger wizard had taken his food. So, instead of observing for the moment or asking Snape to give Harry a nutrient potion after the meal, he decided to simply add food to the younger man's plate. Harry first looked at the additional food in consternation, before glancing up at the smirking face of his counter-part. He sent a vicious glare at the man and ignored the food in favor of taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. The two of them argued without a single sound, using facial expressions alone for nearly ten whole minutes. Their dinner companions were alternately amused and disconcerted by their exchange, before Voldemort finally caved and spoke first.

"Eat," Voldemort ordered softly, ignoring Hermione's slight chuckle at seeing what Voldemort was trying to accomplish. Snape studied his long time master, looking at him oddly but saying nothing about his actions or his silent declaration.

"I can't eat this much," Harry informed him sourly, his glare was no longer focused on Voldemort but was aimed at his plate and the food on it instead.

"You can and you will," Voldemort informed him, frowning partly in irritation and partly in concern.

"It's not that I won't eat it, I can't," Harry clarified, with a sigh and another sip of his juice. "We haven't had much food while we were trying to find your... well, you know."

"Harry always has trouble eating at the beginning of the school year and it takes nearly the whole first term for him to get up to eating a full plate," Hermione commented calmly, having decided to bring attention to Harry's constant eating problem. She kept her gaze on her plate, while she cut up a piece of meat on her plate. "He also has a habit of purposefully cutting back on his food about a month before the end of the school year. We always send him food with his presents on his birthday. I suspect he's been giving us part of his food since we started having trouble purchasing or catching it just before we were caught. I haven't managed to convince him yet that he needs to let a medi-witch or, better yet, a fully fledged healer give him a proper exam. Madame Pomfrey always treats him at school when he gets hurt, but I don't think she's ever done more than treat the obvious."

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed in exasperation.

"She's right, mate," Ron commented, trying to stay out of the building argument, but also knowing that by pushing it now the older magic users might manage to gang up on his friend and actually get him checked out. Or even better, treat anything that might be wrong. "Now that we aren't fighting the dark side, I plan on dragging you to St. Mungo's or at least get my mum to check you."

"Not you too!" Harry practically groaned. Seeing the unimpressed looks on his friend's faces, Harry sighed, choosing to ignore their insistence that he be checked over and instead explaining his refusal to eat more clearly. "I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I haven't been eating much since we got here. It isn't that I'm not hungry, it's that if I try to eat more than a small amount at one time, I'll just waste it by throwing up. Then get yelled at by Hermione for not taking care of myself. Yes, I gave them part of my portion of food when we were short, but neither of them have ever had to go without. I'm used to it."

"Perhaps you'd care to elaborate?" Snape asked softly, absently noticing Voldemort's jaw clenching in fury at the mistreatment Harry's soft words obviously referenced. Voldemort ground his teeth as he remembered the memories that he had seen in Hermione's mind earlier that same day, even as he viciously stabbed at the bit of roast on his plate.

"Not really," Harry said in feigned unconcern, as he pushed his food around on his plate with his fork. He completely ignored the random stares he was getting, especially from the dark side's adults.

"Try again, brat," Snape sniped back, trying to get past some of the instinctive need to hide a potential weakness.

"Tell 'em," Ron ordered before taking another bite of his meal, continuing a moment later after swallowing, managing to keep his mouth closed while he ate. Harry and Hermione had finally managed to break him of his deplorable eating habits while they were on the run. "I mean, I know it's Snape, but it will help to tell them."

"It really would help," Hermione urged softly, tossing a look of concern toward her stubborn friend.

"No, it wouldn't. I just want to forget it. Besides, I'm of age and I never have to go back or ever see them again," Harry said firmly, a moment later he turned slightly melancholy at the memory of his final flight from Privet Drive. "Though I do sort of wish that you'd burned down the house when you ambushed us and killed Hedwig and Mad-eye. Or at least not killed Hedwig."

"Hedwig?" Draco asked in curiosity, as Fawkes cooed consolingly from his special perch where he ate his own meal.

"My owl," Harry responded shortly, clearly still sad at her death. "She was the first friend I ever made."

"I apologize for the death of your owl, but I cannot apologize for the death of Alastor Moody," Voldemort said softly. "He chose to die honorably in battle, defending you. I cannot fault him for that."

"Speaking of what happened that night," Hermione said lightly, trying to change the subject a bit. "Does anyone know how George got his ear back? I really should have asked sooner."

"I do apologize for taking your ear off that night," Snape apologized softly, watching the twins with slightly haunted and hooded eyes. "You jerked to the side just as the spell went past you, right into its path."

"The potion you sent us fixed it just fine and Harry was alive, running around doing whatever mission Dumbledore sent him on," George said with a careless shrug, waving away the man's apology. Snape simply nodded, allowing the redhead's words to wash away his memory of frantically brewing a special healing salve, then chanting _Vulnera Sanentur_ , intermingled with _Sana Regeneratus_ , over the newly crafted salve for nearly twenty hours straight.

"Honestly, Professor? Harry is our little brother, in everything but blood. We were willing to loose a hell of a lot more than an ear to keep him safe. I think the only person who didn't actually volunteer was Mundungus," Fred commented thoughtfully. "Everyone but Mad-eye and Hedwig survived... Hey, Georgie? Remind me to prepare something special for 'Dung?"

"Sure, Freddie. I'll even join you," George agreed affably, slipping a little something extra into one of the serving platters, just before Voldemort grabbed the platter and placed some of the mashed potatoes on Harry's plate.

"I will not allow you to starve yourself," Voldemort said severely, his face implacable. "If you truly cannot eat a full plate, then you must submit to a full examination and begin taking nutrient potions, which Severus will provide."

"I'm not trying to starve myself!" Harry said in disbelief, his mind shying away from just what someone might find if they did manage an in depth magical health check. As a result, he didn't even look at his food as he scooped up a bit of the potatoes that Voldemort had just put on his plate, too busy glaring at the ruby eyed man to notice the slight discoloration of the food before eating it. A moment later the prank in the tainted food kicked in. Harry felt himself changing and instinctively threw himself away from the table as he shifted into the form of a large furry creature that vaguely resembled a dog.

"I told you there was too much moonwart in that batch," Fred told his brother scathingly into the shocked silence of the room.

"Yeah, not enough thyme either," George said consideringly as they examined Harry's lovely new fur coat, ignoring the building growl in Harry's throat. About a minute later Harry shifted back to human form, kneeling where he had stood as a great big black shaggy dog-like creature.

"Twins!" Harry growled, an evil glint in his eye and a look that had both redheads bolting from the table with Harry hot on their heels. Arthur and Molly exchanged a resigned look before they both took out their wands and checked the rest of the food.

"Avoid the potatoes. It doesn't look like they managed to taint anything else. Whatever is on your plate is fine," Arthur told the others when they were done, before putting away his wand and continuing to eat, completely ignoring the racket that the three boys were causing as Harry chased Fred and George, firing off various prank spells at the twin menaces. A stray spell hit Draco and shifted his robes into an overly frilly pink dress much to the blond's dismay. He would deny the very girly shriek that he gave until the day he died.

"Does this happen often?" Yaxley asked carefully, doing his best to ignore the sudden bright blue hair that one of the Aurors was sporting and the sudden three feet of hair that another was fighting with.

"Fairly," Hermione told them simply, leaning over to pick up a plate of rolls and just missing a spell that would have hit her from behind. The spell hit the Death Eater sitting across from her instead and fused his sleeves to the sides of his shirt until his neighbor reversed the hex. "Just don't get between them until Harry's managed to curse Fred and George. The stray spells are annoying but once he's cursed them he'll either help reverse everyone else, make the twins do it, or both."

"Yeah, even mum won't try to stop them," Ron agreed almost mournfully as he took another bite of his food.

"Madam?" Voldemort inquired of Molly Weasley, leaning slightly to the side to let a spell pass by him where his head had been a moment before. He watched as Harry chased the two older boys through and around the room briefly, doing a few circuits around the table, before the twins escaped into the hallway again.

"My twins terrors are a nightmare on their own, but when you add Harry to the mix? Even I won't interfere in that," Molly explained calmly. "Harry doesn't often show it but he is quite the duelist, and if he wanted to emulate his father's antics in school he likely would have been worse than James. With James' legacy and Lily's power, not to mention both their ingenuity and most of their raw talent, if Harry decides someone needs to be pranked then they will fall to his wand or trap. Even my other children won't push him if he's in the mood to prank someone, for all that they're used to the twins pulling such stunts."

Lavender squeaked in surprise and disgust as she got hit with two spells, one made her hair green and the other made her skin orange.

"You look like an Oompa Loompa," Hermione said consideringly before taking another bite of her food. Voldemort's mind flashed to the snippet of a muggle picture that Quirrell had watched, when he thought his parasitic passenger was asleep, and had to silently agree.

"What's an Umpa... loopa?" Theodore Nott asked almost fearfully, as Narcissa took pity on her son and turned Draco's clothes back to normal.

"Oompa Loompa. It's a fictional people who assisted a crazy candy maker in thanks for rescuing them. They are from a children's book that was called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, that was later turned into a film," Hermione explained before dodging slightly to the side in her seat as one of the frantic combatants summoned something from the table to try and dump over one of the other boys. 

There was a sudden crow of delight from Harry, accompanied by some very literal squawking. Everyone turned to see the twins had been hit by a spell that had turned them into some sort of strange plump oversized baby birds about half their original human size. To add insult to injury, their feathers were various shades of green and silver with a rooster-like crest blazing bright red with various orange stripes on the top of their heads.

"Impressive," Voldemort said, studying the transformed twins from his seat at the head of the table.

"Not really, that's a fairly mild prank for something Harry did. I'm actually surprised that he went so easy on them," Neville commented softly, half hoping that Harry wouldn't hear him and decide to turn his mischievous attentions toward him.

Neville's heart sank when Harry's evilly glinting gaze turned toward him from the pudgy squawking and flapping birds. He failed to dodge Harry's retaliatory spell and, moments later, discovered that his clothes, skin and hair had been turned white with large magenta polka dots over it, with a bright red clown nose to top it off. Draco and Blaise scrambled backward away from Neville and the table, cursing with terrified expressions on their faces.

"Damn it, Potter! Did you have to turn him into a clown?!" Draco yelled as both boys bolted from the room.

"The ferret is scared of clowns," Ron said slowly in the stunned silence following the boy's rather sudden departure from the room. Hermione smacked him on the arm, earning an "Oi!" from a suddenly indignant Ron.

"It's no different from your fear of spiders, Ronald," Hermione pointed out primly.

"Harry, dear? About how long will the magic last?" Molly asked calmly as she served herself another roll.

"Oh, about an hour, unless they somehow get wet, then it'll wear off in the morning. That spell is designed to wear off at the next sunrise if some type of liquid gets on them," Harry said with a smirk. It took a moment for the information to sink in, but once it had both Ron and Hermione were sporting evil grins as they stood and simultaneously cast _Aguamenti_ at the fluffy feathery baby birds that were half the size of a normal human. Everyone either watched in amusement or ignored the protesting squawks from the twins.

"Now that you have had your revenge, perhaps you can reverse the effects on the rest of us?" Voldemort asked in a deceptively calm voice, as he leashed his rage after realizing what he was wearing.

While everyone was distracted by the Slytherins' rather abrupt exit, the time delayed spell that had hit Voldemort had activated. Much to his displeasure, he had suddenly found himself dressed in bright pink robes with baby blue prancing unicorns and rainbows floating along the cloth. Harry looked over to see what he was talking about and saw what the stray spell fire had done to the Dark Lord's robes. 

Voldemort fixed Harry with a deadly glare and slowly tapped the fingers of his left hand against the table top, while he twirled his wand threateningly around the fingers of his right hand. Harry let out a snort of laughter, before he slapped a hand over his mouth to cut it off. His eyes widened and he gulped loudly as the Dark Lord's glare intensified, and then Harry immediately bolted from the room.

"Potter!" Voldemort yelled chasing after him, his fury barely contained, as his pink robes flapped about behind him like giant incredibly adorable wings of cuteness.

"Did anyone get a picture of that?" Ginny asked almost dazedly, causing a few people to snicker.

"I did!" Colin Creevey said from the other end of the table, holding up his camera. A round of quiet laughter started going around the table.

"I thought he couldn't wear bright colors?" Hermione asked the room in general. Snape was the one to answer.

"The spell probably only worked on the Dark Lord's clothes because the Light Lord was the one to cast it," the dour man said, continuing to eat his meal, while silently admitting to himself that Harry did indeed outdo his menace of a father with his pranks. He glanced over at the disgruntled twin birds that were still squawking and flapping around, sending feathers floating through the kitchen.

"Staying with you certainly isn't boring," Narcissa admitted conspiratorially to Molly.

"The best part is that, unless it gets truly out of hand, they learn to not only hit moving targets and dodge spell fire but they stay out of my hair until they've sorted whatever personal catastrophe they've stumbled upon," Molly confided, leaning slightly toward Lady Malfoy. "The twins cause the most trouble but it's only harmless fun, unless someone decides it's alright to hurt the family or be truly malicious. I honestly don't know what I would do if they allowed some of the darker parts of their personalities to spill into their pranks. So far, it hasn't been a problem and they've made a wonderful shop." Molly frowned in thought. "I have no idea where they got the start up money, and they won't tell me either."

"As long as they're being careful, it's best to just let them be and make certain that they know you're there for them," Narcissa agreed almost amicably. She looked at Molly contemplatively. "You know, I never thought of that. Allowing the children to duel and prank each other to sharpen their battle skills. I just hired a dueling instructor for Draco, but it would seem that wasn't as effective as your method." Another witch soon joined their conversation and the table conversation firmly turned to parental shop talk. The subject often strayed into areas that bewildered all but the mothers at the table, as everyone did their best to ignore the sounds of the two Lords of Magic dueling across the house.

A few minutes after Harry and Voldemort ran out of the room, Lucius took a sip of his wine and growled in irritation, as his hair turned a bright violet color and his skin covered itself over with shiny lime green pearlescent scales. He looked towards Arthur Weasley with disdain. "I thought you said they'd only contaminated the potatoes?"

"I was wrong," Arthur said, a small and slightly evil smirk on his face.

Harry was running, dodging spells, and frantically searching for some sort of escape or hiding place from his hunter. While he had been rightly furious with the twins, he hadn't actually expected any of the retaliatory prank spells to hit his dark counter-part. He mistakenly glanced back over his shoulder as he neared the family tapestry room, only to see a bright pink cloud of doom with Voldemort's face chasing him. It was a fatal error and he got caught on the hall runner, somehow managing to trip sideways into the very room he was passing. The Dark Lord following close on his heels and furiously casting at the tumbling younger wizard, completely ignoring the mostly repaired family tapestry on the walls. 

Their magic swirled around them, interweaving to the point of nearly merging together. Which is when it happened. Harry's tattoo of both the locket and the sword returned to their original very solid forms, falling from his arm. The blade slicing cleanly through the arm of his dark dance clothes as both artifacts fell to the floor, the metal twisting and fusing together to make something new. By the time the transformation was finished, the locket had embedded its self in the cross-hilt, supplanting the griffin image. The chain had melted into a line of gold accenting, bringing the wizard displayed on the hilt into sharp relief.

Neither of the magic users noticed this, however, they were too busy screaming as all of the soul shards not interwoven into another living creature decided to return to Voldemort. Leaving Harry only with the original soul shard in his scar and merging most of Voldemort's shattered soul back together, healing it. Just as the splitting of his soul originally caused the changes in his body, so too did their return alter him. He lost the look of gaunt starvation that he had sported since his return and hidden under glamours and his partial animagus transformation. 

Voldemort's body filled out into the healthy, practically glowing form of his twenty-something self. Still a little boney from the lack of the soul pieces still housed in Nagini and the original piece in the scar that Harry carried from that disastrous night. The Dark Lord no longer looked like a victim of starvation, about to die due to lack of food, instead he looked as if he had never even created a Horcrux aside from the clearly permanent ruby eyes.

Their joint screams brought most of the household running. They found the two Lords of Magic on the floor, tangled together and half conscious. Harry's scar was bleeding and Voldemort looked far more like a youthful Tom Riddle then he had ever looked since his school days. Hermione viewed the changes in both wizards and her mind flashed back to what little she had read about Horcruxes and the side effects of making one and gasped in understanding.

"He's reabsorbed at least one of his soul pieces," Hermione said in a voice of stunned realization. "It was probably more than one since he looks a lot more human now. I thought only a ritual and honest regret for the original murder would do that."

"'Mione? Want to explain? Wait, first tell us how to help Harry, and the dark menace, _then_ tell us what happened," Ron ordered, trying to keep Hermione from going off on mental tangents and get her to stay on task so that they could help Harry.

"We need to move them to a bed and clean up the blood from Harry's scar, but aside from letting them rest and keeping them hydrated, there isn't much we can do," Hermione explained after shaking herself out of her thoughts. "It might take a while for them to wake up and we definitely don't want to take them far from each other. It would be best if we put them in the same bed, but I don't think it would hurt anything to simply keep them in the same room. Giving them anything more than water could be dangerous. Their conditions are very fragile and if one dies, then its very possible that the other will die as well. We need to give their souls a chance to heal, and keeping them together should help that."

Bellatrix ignored Hermione's words and immediately moved to separate the two wizards, just as Fawkes sensed that the magic had settled enough for him to enter the room and he flew in to join his bonded wizard. Upon seeing what the insane witch was about to attempt, he gave a screech of fury and and chased her back with beak, wings, and talons, inflicting damage to her skin, hair, and clothes. When she was sufficiently far enough away from the fallen wizards he flew back and landed on the floor between the two Lords and the others, hissing with his wings spread in a menacing manner, warning them off.

"Fawkes? Should we just leave them there?" Hermione asked gently, only to receive a piercing look and a short nod in return as the Phoenix folded his wings away again, glaring at them as a group as he hovered protectively over the two Lords of Magic. 

About ten minutes of tense waiting later, the two wizards groaned from their positions on the floor and started to come to. Fawkes not only allowed Snape near but actually hopped over to him and pulled on the sleeve of his robe to get him to come over and check on the two magical lords. After he successfully dragged the potion master over to the two incoherent wizards, the Phoenix had to chase Bellatrix back again, placing himself between the three wizards and the majority of the current household. Voldemort was the first to properly come around with a groan, unconsciously clutching Harry to him even in his half conscious state as Snape cast diagnostic spells and found evidence of something... It wasn't long before the Dark Lord sat up, Harry cradled in his arms, the two of them still tangled together.

"What happened?" Snape asked softly, ignoring their audience and feathered protector.

"I'm not certain," Voldemort admitted unsteadily, unthinkingly keeping Harry in his arms and even tightening his grip on the younger man, almost as if he were cuddling him close.

"Miss Granger believes that you re-merged with at least one of your soul pieces," Snape explained quietly. "From what I know of the situation, that seems to be the case. One thing that we are both in agreement on is that the two of you need to physically stay as close as possible for the time being. Fawkes allowed me close enough to examine you, despite showing his protectiveness when Bellatrix attempted to separate the two of you. I'm not certain we should move you at all, much less far enough to place either of you in your rooms."

"Just get Minerva to transfigure a bed for us and have someone fetch us night clothes. We'll sleep in here," Voldemort ordered tiredly, as Harry regained consciousness in his arms, too tired to move and barely awake enough to listen. "We can move back to our rooms and decide what to do in the morning."

"Very well," Snape agreed softly, using a look to send one of his Slytherins to get their night clothes, and standing aside to allow McGonagall to transfigure them a bed out of a handkerchief she had in her pocket. 

The two teachers gently levitated the two exhausted wizards, their limbs still tangled together, into bed under the watchful eye of the protective Phoenix. They used a switching spell to change their clothes, before ushering everyone out of the tapestry room for the night. Later that night, Harry kept tossing and turning in bed trying to sleep comfortably. Eventually, Voldemort muttered to himself and tiredly cast a binding spell, tying Harry up to keep him still. He unconsciously wrapped himself around the younger wizard, using him as a giant teddy bear. They both fell asleep, just as the binding spell wore off and faded away. They were both unwilling to admit to themselves or anyone else that their current positions, which the latest situation had practically forced on them, was comforting.


	5. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voldemort subjects himself to the terrors of witnessing Harry's nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _ **TRIGGER WARNING!!!!**_ : Very bad _nightmares_ for Harry. Read at own risk!
> 
> This chapter is extra long as a sort of holiday present for all of our readers!  
> =D Enjoy and Happy Holidays!! ~Chibi & Gen  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Several hours later, nearing the midnight hour, Voldemort was awoken by the first quiet whimpers coming from Harry. By the time the man was awake enough to realize what was going on, Harry's volume had risen to unmistakable levels. The older man shook his companion grumpily, trying to snap him out of whatever horror his mind had conjured to torment him with. The only response he received from the erstwhile Lord of the Light was increased whimpers and moans, and Harry beginning to thrash about under the bed covers. He was idly thankful that the sword wasn't in the bed with them, then dismissed the enchanted blade from his mind, not realizing that it had shifted to the form of a locket and currently lay under their bed, having successfully fused with Slytherin's locket.

"Wake up, Potter," Voldemort ordered, shaking the younger wizard again, trying to wake him up. He froze when Harry finally became loud enough for him to understand the words spoken to the nightmares he faced.

"No, Uncle! Please! I'm almost done! Please! I'm so hungry," Harry muttered in his sleep, fear lacing his voice and driving the pitch higher as his words grew louder. "Please don't put me in the cupboard yet! No, Uncle! Not the belt! I'm sorry! Not the belt! Piers, stop it! I can't go home without my clothes!"

Voldemort cursed softly and quickly cuddled Harry close, as he plunged into his own mind, frantically searching for the Horcrux enhanced mind link they shared. He quickly found his end of the link and hurried through it. What he found when he entered Harry's mind actually scared him. He found the young Gryffindor surrounded by a group of boys and had to watch as they tried to pin him to the ground and one of them tried to strip him of his shorts. The dream was too detailed to be anything but drawn from a real memory. From what he could tell in the dream's summertime daylight, Harry was approximately fourteen or fifteen years old, so probably not long after he had tried to kill the boy at the end of his fourth year and the tournament. 

Harry stumbled, surrounded by Dudley and his gang, desperately hoping he might be able to get away from them as he had done in the past, but without magic. He was terrified of being expelled for using magic outside of school and then be banished from the wizarding world. Magic and its world were his life's blood, he didn't think he could live without it. Harry tugged at the edge of his shorts, trying to get them out of the hands of one of the bigger boys, despite the fact that he was surrounded and likely wouldn't manage to get away without at least what he considered a minor beating.

"But we have to check to make sure you're not really a girl, Harry," Dudley pointed out, with a disturbing look on his face. "You look like one and if you are one, then you're even more of a freak and we can have some... fun."

Dudley's friends grinned evilly and nodded their agreement as they jointly shoved the young wizard to the ground, hard enough that his skull bounced off of the pavement, leaving Harry in a daze. The group of bullies roughly maneuvered the younger boy, first gleefully knocking away and smashing Harry's glasses before stripping off his shirt. Harry regained enough of his senses to try to fight back as they started pulling on his pants, doing his best to keep his simmering magic under control so that whatever happened he would still be able to go back to his true home come September.

Just as Harry failed to stop the other boys from stripping him of his shorts the sickening scene changed, now Voldemort was forced to watch an absurdly large man approaching _his_ naked green eyed brat. With a vicious mental growl, the most feared Dark Lord in the last century started trying to fight his way _into_ the dream to try and rescue the same person he had been trying to kill for the last sixteen years. As he fought to enter the dream, he was forced to watch the whale of a man, whom he had to assume from Harry's plea's was the young man's Uncle Vernon, remove his belt and proceed to viciously beat the young wizard. 

"Freak! You ruined the perfectly good clothes that we wasted good money on for you!" Vernon practically roared, as he swung his belt to viciously whip his nephew. "We took you in when no one wanted you! They left you on our stoop with no explanation! We fed you and clothed you out of the goodness of our hearts and this is how you repay us?! By shamefully parading around the neighborhood as if we provided nothing for you? Embarrassing us?! Not on my watch!"

"I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon!" Harry cried, as he curled into a naked ball on the floor of the kitchen of Number 4 Private Drive. The teen was bleeding profusely from the welts where the belt and the attached buckle had cut through his skin. The whipping motion caused blood to splatter all over the floor, walls and ceiling of the previously pristine kitchen.

"You are nothing but an ungrateful burden!" Vernon shouted, landing his belt along Harry's back with each word, before tossing it aside in disgust. Heaving in exertion he ordered Harry to, "Clean up the mess you've made!" referring to the blood that liberally covered the kitchen and Harry's back, just before the scene shifted again.

Harry found himself sitting in Umbridge's office, wearing nothing on his upper body. The blood quill was in his hand and he was in the middle of dipping it into the blood pooling into the ink well, as it magically appeared inside it after each line. Every time the young wizard made a mark on the parchment, Voldemort could see a matching cut appear on the back of his left hand and spread along the flesh of his arms, back and chest as he wrote each new line, repeatedly spelling out "I must not tell lies".

"How are we coming along? Has it _sunk in_ yet?" Umbridge asked sweetly in that sickening tone of voice. She was dressed in her horrendously pink cardigan and her meowing cat plates decorated the hideously pink stone walls around them, as she graded student essays at her desk. Harry muttered something profane under his breath as he continued painfully writing lines.

"Oh no, Mr. Potter. None of that," Umbridge said evilly. "We can't have you running around spouting lies and disrupting the other student's from their learning. Of course, there is a way we could dispense with all of this." Harry looked up warily, unable to contain his curiosity, a question in his eyes.

"Yes, all you need to do is let me cast a simple little spell and to sign this book and this parchment," Umbridge said sweetly, as she got up and came around her desk to place an open book and an apparently blank parchment in front of Harry on top of his increasingly shaky written lines.

"What's the catch? And what spell?" Harry asked, eyeing both items and Umbridge suspiciously.

"This spell. _Crucio!_ " Umbridge cast viciously. Harry threw himself from his seat in an attempt to dodge. The abrupt movement triggered yet another scene change as he was suddenly sliding across the floor only to land in front of his Aunt Petunia, blood creating a bright red trail along the floor where he had slid.

"Boy! Get up! You've yet to finish your chores and you've made an appalling mess of my nice kitchen!" Petunia screeched, as Harry quickly scrambled to his feet muttering apologies. One of the claw like hands of the stick thin horse-faced woman darted out and clutched one of Harry's wrists in a vice like grip pulling him toward her. The sudden yank sent Harry off balance as she turned and spitefully pressed his palm flat to the hot stove, burning his hand until it was red and blistered. Harry bit through his lip trying not to scream.

The Dark Lord watched, even as he fought to enter the dream, as the vile woman berated Harry for not finishing his chores. She shook the impossibly long list at the young man as she continued to burn him, before declaring that he would receive no food for the day and shoved him into a small boot cupboard under the stairs. It was in this cupboard where the Dark Lord finally found his way into the dream. Harry felt like the darkness of the cupboard was suffocating him, as Voldemort became one with the darkness and pulled it back from Harry. He changed it from a cold suffocating abyss of darkness to something more closely resembling a warm comforting blanket, as green eyes caught sight of red ones in the dreamed darkness.

Harry gazed into the ruby eyes that were studying him and remembered another set of eyes just like it, not yet realizing they were the same ones he now looked into. His dream started to fade from his memories of the darkness to his encounters with the Dark Lord, who now stood before him, believing that Voldemort wasn't actually there but that he was merely facing a representation of the man instead. The memory of his parents death played around them, before shifting to facing the troll at Hogwarts. Then it shifted to his first meeting with Fluffy, the three-headed dog, and then the jaunt through the challenges leading to the Philosopher's stone. The next memory after that, was when the two of them had faced off over the stone, before his mind jumped to facing down the Tom Riddle from the diary in the Chamber of Secrets, including killing both the diary and the Basilisk. Directly after that, the mindscape shifted to the ritual in the grave yard, where Harry was forced to watch his grotesque form rise from the cauldron again, then had to fight for his life.

Voldemort realized what was happening, as he was bombarded by not only the images of Harry's memory but also the thoughts and emotions that went with them. He felt the fear, determination, confusion, stubbornness, and the tenacious will to live that saturated each of the memories. Deciding that he really needed to do something, he brought forward his own memories of some of their previous encounters. Then he shifted the dreamscape to some of his far more recent memories of the new Light Lord. They both watched as Harry fearlessly faced down not only Voldemort but their captors as well, freeing them in the process. The memory was laced with the Dark Lord's own disbelief, grudging admiration, confusion, and a hope that gradually became more clear as they watched more of Voldemort's memories. 

They watched as Voldemort practically hovered, ready to step in if Harry faltered, as the young lion took command of the situation. Harry saw himself get everyone out safely, destroying the enemy's base in the process and preventing their future use of it. They watched as Harry fearlessly halted Lucius Malfoy with words alone when he attacked the Weasley patriarch, then stepped aside at the proper time when Voldemort fulfilled his own duties and punished his right hand man. Harry could feel the growing possessiveness and protectiveness as they continued to view the memories. As a result, he wasn't really that surprised by the jealous rage he could feel from the Dark Lord's memory of his dancing as they watched Blaise dance near him. Harry felt all of these emotions, he just didn't understand why the Dark Lord had felt them. The possessiveness was nothing new, but the jealousy? That was baffling. He wasn't all that surprised when he finally realized that it wasn't Voldemort's representation he was looking at, but the man himself, having entered into the younger wizard's mind. 

Both men were wrapped in caring warmth as they slowly returned to wakefulness, leaving the dreams and the nightmares behind. They looked at each other with a new understanding glowing in their eyes, before Harry became embarrassed and looked away. He finally noticed that he was wrapped in his counter-part's arms. Harry tried to gently free himself from the suddenly embarrassing embrace. His attempt to slip away from the ruby eyed man and possibly even out of the room was thoroughly thwarted as Voldemort reflexively tightened his grip, trapping him against his renewed body.

"Um, you can let go now," Harry said softly, refusing to meet the older man's gaze, as he blushed a bit and squirmed under the bed covers.

"Oh, no you don't. You aren't going to run and hide, not now," Voldemort informed him almost gleefully as he wrapped his leg around Harry's own legs to keep the younger wizard pinned. Harry started to weakly struggle in the ruby eyed man's grip. "We are going to talk about what I saw in that dream of yours, and you aren't escaping from me again, if I have anything to say about it."

"There's nothing to talk about," Harry protested, struggling even harder. He pretended to believe that the statement regarding his escape only applied to what his nightmares had revealed to the older man. He wasn't actually sure he wanted to escape, if it meant more than that.

"You can either talk about it with me now, or we can discuss it with the entire house in the morning. Perhaps with a little Veritaserum to smooth the way," Voldemort threatened before softening his tone. "You aren't the only one who hasn't had the best childhood experiences and you _will_ talk to someone about it. If I have my way you will speak with either me or Severus. Preferably me. No one else has to know if you don't want them to, but we need to know what they did so that we can heal any damage you may have suffered, whether you believe you were injured or not."

Harry stopped struggling but refused to meet the older man's gaze, half afraid of what he might find there. He wasn't sure if he would prefer understanding, disgust, or something else entirely. Voldemort sighed and eased his grip a bit, but he refused to ease it enough to allow the younger male to free himself from his grip and try to run away.

"Whether you like it or not, you belong to me and have belonged to me since I marked you," Voldemort said, darting his gaze up to the scar on Harry's forehead. "Even in my previous madness, I made certain that my followers knew you were mine, even if it was only to kill you. You no longer need to worry about that, nor do you need to worry about possible mistreatment from my hands or on my order. I take care of what is mine. You may not like my actions but never doubt that I will take care of you," Voldemort admitted softly, resisting the urge to stroke Harry's face. "I never wanted to kill you or your parents, but we were at war and the information I had said that you would kill me and end my attempt to protect our people. There are very good reasons why the title of Dark Lord must be earned the way it is. The Dark Lord is the sword; attacking and destroying the enemies of the wizarding world, internal and external alike. The Light Lord is the shield; the defender and healer, as well as the leash on the Dark Lord should he get out of hand. The relationship between the two lords varies widely but there is always some type of relationship between the two Lords of Magic."

As Harry listened to Voldemort's partial explanation for the man's actions, his muscles began to relax and his tension eased, bringing him back from the hair trigger he had been on. It also distracted him from his former need to bolt from the room, regardless of the possible additional damage it might have caused him to rip himself out of the other's grasp. Harry sighed, as he finally looked up into concerned yet demanding ruby eyes and considered what he was going to say, what he was going to share, and if he could get away with brushing it off as a simple nightmare that had no real meaning.

"You won't get away with passing this off as a _normal_ nightmare that means nothing, brat," Voldemort growled softly, easily understanding what the prolonged silence from the younger wizard actually meant. Harry stiffened, still trapped in the older man's arms, before sighing and forcing his muscles to relax and once more going limp in the Dark Lord's grip.

"It's nothing, just memories," Harry told him with feigned indifference. What he hadn't counted on was the sudden stiffness from his companion along with the nearly sub vocal growl of fury that rumbled through the Dark Lord's chest.

"Memories?" The Dark Lord's tone carried a strange mixture of concern, fury, frustration, and possessiveness as his grip tightened on the green-eyed imp pinned underneath him. His grip was so tight it caused the youth to hiss in pain. Hearing the quiet sound of pain, Voldemort quickly loosened his grip to a more reasonable pressure and met the confused yet curious emerald colored gaze.

"Yeah, it's just some of my memories," Harry confirmed softly, his gaze falling to the half open top of Voldemort's pajamas to stare at the older wizard's chest in embarrassment. "I'm sorry I woke you up. Normally I use silencing spells so that I don't bother anyone."

"And when you were at your relatives? Unable to do magic?" Voldemort asked, his unseen face taking on an ominous cast, even as his voice remained soft and coaxing. Harry shrugged stiffly, refusing to meet the demanding ruby gaze of the man who had been a true constant in his life, even when neither of them were properly aware of it.

"Mostly, I try to keep quiet, but when I can't I get punished," Harry practically whispered the admission and only the fact that they were in so close physical proximity allowed Voldemort to hear his younger counter-part. The quiet words drew a growl of displeasure from the Dark Lord as he recognized how much that had hurt Harry in the past and still hurt the young man even now.

"Muggles!" Voldemort said in disgust before shifting back to the topic at hand, using a much softer tone. "How much of that dream was real and how much was it distorted by your dreaming mind?" Harry clamped his mouth shut and refused to say anything more, frantically shaking his head 'no' as his muscles tensed again as he prepared to try and escape.

"Harry, you _will_ answer me," Voldemort told him, his patience drawing thin and allowing some of his irritation to leak into his voice. Harry did his best to stay mulishly silent but his bedmate wasn't having any of that. The Dark Lord gripped Harry's chin with one hand and forced scared green eyes to meet furious red. Harry caved after about five minutes of staring into the demanding gaze of his former enemy.

"Most of it was real," Harry whispered, dropping his gaze back to Voldemort's chest as he once more went limp in defeat in the man's grip. "Umbridge really did try to curse me and made me use that weird quill when she gave me detention. The Dursleys... didn't like me very much but at least the naked parts of the dream weren't real."

"And the rest of it?" Voldemort asked ominously. His question was met with silence that eventually caused the feared Dark Lord to sigh in a combination of disappointment and exasperation. He shifted his grip to something a bit gentler and startled both of them by petting Harry while cuddling him close. Earning a number of weird looks from the younger wizard and personally wondering what the bloody hell he was doing. "From now on, you will be staying with me. Don't think you've gotten out of actually talking about how they've treated you either, even if I have to pour Veritaserum or a lesser truth serum down your throat to loosen your tongue."

The silence that enveloped the pair was deafening, as Harry continued to avoid the older man's gaze in shame over what he had let _muggles_ do to him. Voldemort gave off a heavy sigh when he realized the direction that Harry's thoughts must be wandering. It was only another few minutes before he felt impelled to ease the younger man's worries in regards to his previous treatment.

"Harry, you did nothing wrong. Their actions, if even remotely like what I saw in your dream, were deplorable and they will pay for harming a magical child," Voldemort told him softly, unable to stop himself from continuing to pet the green eyed brat in his arms, despite the fact that said brat flinched at hearing his promise of retribution on the younger wizard's behalf.

"Please don't. I should have been able to stop them," Harry begged quietly in his chest, causing Voldemort to stop petting him and, much more gently this time, draw his chin up so that their gazes met, pleading green eyes met implacable red ones. "I just want to forget."

"I know," Voldemort responded quietly, causing Harry to breath a sigh of relief until the next words left the older man's mouth. "However, forgetting is not an option and I can not allow anyone to get away with harming a magical child. Abuse like what you have suffered, like what I and Severus suffered, is one of the greatest crimes in the magical world for all that some of the more sadistic among our kind hide such actions against _adult_ family members at times. The harming of a child is deplorable. Only your special status as the one who defeated me made my previous actions against you any semblance of acceptable. Even children are fair targets under the laws pertaining to blood feuds, for all that the allowed retaliation is _far_ more lenient. In our society, children are precious treasures and the slightest bit of intentional harm to one is enough to cause a centuries long blood feud. Many muggles and muggleborns are used to violence being offered to children and can't truly understand why we make such a big deal out of it. Which is one of the many reasons why magical children should be raised in the wizarding world."

Harry took a moment to process the information he had just been given, before he slowly nodded his reluctant acceptance and understanding. Voldemort let out a miniscule breath of relief that he hadn't realized he was holding. This time when Harry tried to roll out of his grip the Dark Lord allowed it... or at least he tried to. Suddenly, they had a far more pressing problem than a simple argument over a few nightmares. Harry tugged at the other man's arm, even as Voldemort frowned and gently pulled from his end of the struggle. It wasn't working. They looked at each other in a mixture of shared horror, resignation, and frustration as they continued to try and separate from one another.

"Must be a side effect from whatever happened earlier. Hopefully, it will wear off or at least lessen before we have to get up in the morning," Voldemort grumbled in annoyance, giving one more good tug, before sighing in resignation and pulled Harry back into his arms. He ignored the slight sound of annoyed distress his green eyed brat uttered. He grumbled an order, "Go back to sleep. We'll get Severus and your know-it-all to sort this out in the morning."

"Her name is Hermione! And great! Just great! I'm stuck to the Dark Lord, who has been trying to kill me since I was a baby, and just made actual sense for the first time ever!" Harry muttered darkly, thumping his head against Voldemort's chest a few times, unable to reach another hard surface to use instead. Voldemort chuckled in dark amusement and considered the ramifications of what they had just discovered before beginning to grin evilly. Harry could sense the shift in the room's atmosphere and looked up at his grinning bed mate suspiciously.

"I know that look. That look usually gets me into trouble. That look precedes a very bad day. What are you planning?" Harry asked in wary suspicion, resisting the urge to try and run away, far away, instinctively knowing that whatever magic had them stuck together wouldn't let him get far.

"Oh, nothing really," Voldemort said airily. "Just contemplating that now I won't have to tie you up to make you sleep in the same bed with me for at least the next two weeks as forfeit for our little duel earlier. Now that I've got you where I can keep an eye on you, I don't plan on letting you get out of my sight. So, no, you won't be getting into any trouble. You may attract more trouble than a feral kneazle in a hen house, but I will make it my mission to keep you out of it."

"You really want to deal with my _nightmares_ for two whole weeks?" Harry asked in astonishment, trying to sit up a bit in bed and failing miserably since the Dark Lord refused to unwrap his arms from around Harry's torso.

"Oh, I'm more than willing to put up with them for _far_ longer than two weeks, my little lion," Voldemort informed him, his tone and grin almost feral, sending a shiver of some unknown origin down Harry's back. He pressed Harry's head gently back against his chest before once more giving Harry an order. "Go to sleep. We'll sort it out in the morning."

Completely bewildered by this point, Harry gave a mental shrug and settled down to fall back to sleep, completely oblivious to the mental plotting that Voldemort was doing to ensure he could claim the young lion in his arms for his own. Eventually they both fell into a deep restful sleep, little smiles forming on both their faces, as they both got their first good night sleep in a _very_ long time. The next morning, both wizards awoke to the sound of quiet knocking on the door. Then their impromptu bedroom was invaded by three witches in full mother hen mode, and an irate and worried potions master who was without his morning coffee. 

Molly, Narcissa, and Hermione entered the tapestry room and stopped short when they saw how cute the two lords of magic were tangled up in bed together. None of them could hold back the quiet adoring sounds they made over their erstwhile patients, as Snape harrumphed, stuck behind the three witches cooing in the doorway. Both pairs of red and green eyes looked up blearily from nests of dark hair that were messy from sleep. They were surrounded by a combination of fluffy pillows and blankets, making both wizards look like nestlings. As their eyes cleared, the two magical lords started to watch the witches and potions mater warily, and with a faint sense of confusion.

"My lord," Narcissa said, finally getting control of herself and giving him a short bow of respect, subtly reminding the other two women that they were actually there for a reason.

"Narcissa," Voldemort muttered, as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He then eyed the three women cautiously, instinctively pulling Harry closer as if he were small child who was afraid they would try and take his cuddly little lion away from him.

"Have there been any other symptoms or side effects?" Snape asked grumpily as he pushed past the women to cast various diagnostics on the two, being quickly joined by Narcissa as Molly observed and Hermione took notes for them.

"We're stuck," Harry told them in an equally grumpy tone as his own eyes cleared of sleep, causing Snape to pause a moment before continuing to cast his diagnostic spells.

"Stuck? How?" Snape asked cautiously, definitely more awake than when he had entered the room. Neither of them spoke, they simply tried to roll away from each other only for the magic to jerk them up short, barely touching at the finger tips.

"Well, that's better than it was last night," Harry said. At Hermione's inquiring look, he elaborated. "I couldn't leave his arms at all last night when I tried to get out of bed after I woke us both up with my nightmares. _Someone_ forgot to put up the silencing spell I use every night." Harry shot an accusing glare at Hermione, who met his gaze unrepentantly.

"The only reasons we never tear it down every night so that we can help you is because; one, its too powerful for us to affect; two, we were on the run and hiding from the Dark Lord; and three, we had enough problems at the time while lacking both the knowledge and resources necessary to help you more than we already had. Which you well know Harry James Potter. You also know that if we have the chance to try and get you help, both Ron and I _will_ take it," Hermione retorted with a glare and a raised eyebrow, refusing to back down until Harry dropped his own gaze sheepishly as Snape and Narcissa finished up their diagnostics, prudently staying out of the argument.

"I can detect nothing wrong with either of you. However, I am a potions master not an expert on whatever soul magic Miss Granger believes the two of you to have been affected by. I only know of Miss Granger and you, my Lord, who have any background in this area of magic. Were Dumbledore still alive, I might be able to consult with him on the matter but he is not," Snape said quietly, easing the tension even further than when Harry conceded to Hermione.

"I have no idea what happened," Voldemort practically growled out moodily. Hermione bit her lip and hummed in thought, eyeing both wizards with a look that Harry recognized as just short of an _Aha!_

"Hermione, what are you thinking?" Harry asked suspiciously, as he watched the changing expression on his friend's face.

"Well, if my conclusion yesterday was correct; that V-Voldemort reabsorbed one or more pieces of his soul, and if you were housing one or more of them... then wouldn't your soul be wounded or something? If you had Voldemort's soul pieces attached to your own, and they were sort of holding onto yours like barnacles, then what happened last night would have ripped those piece away from you and leave open sores. Like ripping off a scab, does that make sense? You would need close contact with Voldemort to heal, wouldn't you? Possibly so that _both_ of your souls could heal?" Hermione offered hesitantly, earning herself looks of incredulity from Snape, Narcissa, and Molly. As well as the thoughtful, if slightly constipated, look from Voldemort, who wasn't too keen on referring to his soul pieces as scabs and barnacles. Even if it did make sense. Plus, there was the look from Harry that was a combination of amazement, intrigue, sudden understanding, and fond exasperation.

"Couldn't you have warned us last night?" Harry asked, half pleading and half demandingly.

"I _said_ that we shouldn't separate the two of you," Hermine shot back indignantly. "However, I didn't expect for the magic to enforce the need for closeness, especially not like this!" She gestured at the two of them and where they were literally stuck together like a couple of giant powerful magnets.

"Enough!" Voldemort ordered sharply, causing the two young magic users to subside before they could start to banter back and forth. They suddenly grinned at each other, slightly bewildering Voldemort, yet causing Snape to roll his eyes at the childish antics. Molly and Narcissa just watched on in amusement. Deciding to interrupt the silence before it could be filled with snark and friendly arguments once more, the Dark Lord started addressing possible concerns. "We need to think about what else this sudden soul merging has caused. Is there any way to dispel this particular side effect? Is there a time limit or is it permanent? If this is permanent, will there be some sort of outside limit to the distance we can travel from one another? Will there be consequences of attempting to move beyond that limit or if there is a current limit?" he asked, looking directly at Hermione.

Harry looked at his counter-part oddly, before glancing between the two of them in bewilderment and a growing amusement caused by how similar the two were acting. Eventually, Harry's actions forced the Dark Lord to grab his head and meet the man's ruby gaze accompanied by a raised, questioning eyebrow. Hermione watched their interaction closely, and had to hold back a giggle when Voldemort grabbed Harry's head and silently asked what the devil he was doing and why. 

Hermione knew that Harry saw her only as a sister. She also knew and disapproved of the way Molly kept pushing him together with Ginny. Especially since the young redhead had a bad habit of playing the field. In her opinion, Harry needed someone to protect _him_ , not someone who always needed his protection. From the possessive way the Dark Lord had been acting, Hermione thought Harry might have just found what he needed without really trying. Aside from finally getting the man to stop trying to kill him all the time.

"It would be easier to figure out if I knew for certain whether the two of you are soul mates or not," Hermione pointed out, throwing out that observation and wondering if Harry would catch on. Her words brke the tableau in front of her. A tableau of two of the most powerful mages she had ever heard of regarding one another silently, communicating in a way that is only done among those who knew each other best. Something she feared that their little trio had very nearly lost and might never regain. Not at the same level they'd had before any way.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry asked. A moment later, he spluttered in absolute denial. "Of course we're not soul mates!"

"If we are, you can bet that you won't be getting away from me," Voldemort breathed into Harry's ear, with a low growl that sent an electrifying shiver down the younger man's spine. A shiver that the said young man did his absolute best to ignore. 

Hermione was the only one to catch the slight blush that the quiet words conjured across Harry's face. She gave her friend a knowing look, which he completely ignored, aside from the silent begging in his green eyes to say nothing about it. She raised an amused eyebrow, indicating her agreement yet still showing her disapproval of the choice with a slight down turn of her lips. Ron was the only one who would have been able to properly catch, muchless understand their exchange but Snape was observant enough to catch that something had been communicated between the two during that instant. 

The Potions Master and consummate spy said nothing, choosing to observe while trying to understand. He knew that figuring out the code they had obviously just used, no matter how unconsciously created, might mean the difference between being able to keep Harry alive and missing something vital which could get the brat killed. Snape's eyes met Voldemort's, recognizing the possessiveness with which the man hovered over his counter-part and prize. The dour man knew then, with absolute certainty, that as far as the Dark Lord was concerned the green eyed brat was already his. It was just a matter of defining in what way Harry belonged to the man with the demonic red gaze. 

Snape bowed his head slightly, acknowledging his master's claim but refused to drop his gaze for an extra heart beat, his eyes shining with protectiveness. He used his actions to help indicate his own desire to help protect the young lion, but also his willingness to obey his master. All of this silent communication happened in a matter of seconds. Which turned out to be a good thing, because a moment later, the bed returned to being a handkerchief and dumped both Lords of Magic onto the floor. Voldemort growled low in his throat, knowing that the disappearance of their bed had to have been deliberate and that it _wouldn't_ have been Minerva's fault.

"Twins!" Harry roared furiously. He was thankfully facing _away_ from Voldemort's ear, rather than toward it. 

"Sorry, Harry! We thought you'd be up by now!" The twins called through the doorway, before darting off to hide.

"I take it no one bothered to tell them _why_ we were in bed together in here?" Harry asked dryly, gently thunking his head onto the hardwood floor.

"Sorry, Harry. That one's my fault. I thought they'd leave you alone, so I promised to tell them this morning," Hermione told him in acute embarrassment, as Molly and Narcissa helped the two wizards to their feet while they made sure not to loose contact with each other, holding hands the whole way up. "I honestly forgot when Mrs. Weasly asked me if I wanted to come with them to check on you. They probably thought that it was no big deal."

"Or they thought that I was close enough to shield them if Voldemort got angry for making his bed disappear under him if he didn't happen to be an early riser," Harry pointed out, his tone still dry but this time with just a trace of self deprecating amusement for all that he looked cute holding his counter-part's hand. They hadn't bothered to try releasing their grips on each other's hands, as one of the easiest and most natural ways to maintain in contact. "I have absolutely no idea what they thought about us actually being in the same bed, but it was probably along the lines of me getting blackmailed so that he can keep an eye on me. Probably on the assumption that even though I'm now the Light Lord, I've irked him enough that he might want a little revenge."

"You have," Voldemort agreed, amusement lacing his own voice. "And I will be discussing that with you, later. It's good to know that you have as much trouble with some of your people as I do with mine."

"I'm not sure that they actually are mine," Harry commented with a thoughtful frown. Hermione shook her head with a small smile on her face. She handed her friend a diagram on a piece of parchment, which was filled with her notes in the margins. Harry's eyebrows raised as he looked over what she had given him, before looking up at her in astonishment. She simply nodded her confirmation, eliciting a long suffering groan from the sable haired youth.

"At least you can probably get Thicknesse out of office, and we might not have to keep blackmailing Rita Skeeter to keep her from lying about you," Hermione pointed out reasonably, earning an annoyed glare to which she responded with a sweet smile. She got an eye roll in return. "Actually, I've been thinking about what happened and I _might_ have a way to speed up letting you separate. The catch is that for the first two hours or so you'll have to have as much full body contact as possible. It would be even better if you had skin to skin contact and would probably expand how far you can get from each other until whatever this is wears off."

"Go on," Harry said hesitantly, fully aware of how thoroughly Hermione tended to research her ideas. He was also aware that ignoring her warnings, no matter how vague, was usually a very bad idea.

"I remembered reading about a spell in the library when we were staying here over the summer just before fifth year that might help. I found it again last night after you went to sleep," Hermione explained, blushing a bit at Harry's knowing look. Harry didn't even have to voice the fact that she had probably stayed up most of the night to find something to help them. "I found it in one of the older books about healing that wasn't in English but was also new enough that the translating spell didn't have any problems with it. Roughly the incantation would translate to _soul healing hug_. It's supposed to increase and enhance someone's ability to heal all manner of wounds, mental as well as physical. According to the text, it works best if there is already a connection between the people who it will be cast on, and even better if it is cast by someone who cares about both subjects. One of you would hug the other while someone else casts the spell, and you would need to keep hugging for at least two hours for the best results. The longer you hug each other, the better it works, but I thought you'd prefer to only hug as long as you need to for the best effect. Harry, if we try this spell we might need to cast it more than once, unless we can find the soul mate of either one of you to help stabilize and heal both of you."

"And if _we_ are soul mates?" Voldemort asked softly, gently tugging Harry closer to him via their joined hands.

"I'm not sure," Hermione said uncertainly, some of her own tiredness leaking through her facade of normality. "The text wasn't clear on that, only that this is a powerful healing spell of the last resort, partially because of its nature as soul magic. There were a few variations next to it in the book, but they were all blood or sacrifice based. I didn't think that you would appreciate needing to kill a magical pure blood baby powerful enough to be one of the next Lords of Magic to heal and cleanse literally everything along with gaining a significant, if temporary, power boost. Part of the side effects listed that we would be short at least one Lord of Magic for the next twenty years or so, until the power balanced."

"No, we wouldn't. If the two of us fail, we are going to need to hide any potential successors from muggle detection," Voldemort commented sourly. "I hope whoever created that spell died painfully."

"From the notes of one of the back up references which was written a few years later, he did. His magic devoured him slowly from the inside out and he stopped being able to use what magic he had left a few weeks after casting that horrid spell," Hermione informed them.

"Good!" Harry spat. "We are never using that spell. In fact, maybe you should burn the pages it's on!"

"How much research did you do on this spell?" Snape asked, silently agreeing with Harry's sentiment. His eyes were narrowed on Hermione in suspicion, knowing full well how thoroughly she usually researched even for something as relatively inconsequential as a school essay for extra credit that she didn't actually need.

"I was just about to go to bed when Mrs. Weasley asked me to come with you all to check on them," Hermione admitted, earning a suspicious look from Harry, who quickly pulled his wand and tossed a _Finite_ at his friend before she could react. They all watched as the glamours, that Hermione had used to disguise how exhausted she was, faded away.

"Hermione!" Harry half scolded in exasperation.

"I had to find _something_ to help," she shot back in indignation. "There's no telling what might happen. You do tend to face some of the oddest and most baffling things, Harry."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't rest and actually be able to help diagnose the problem in the first place," Snape said darkly, as he loomed over his former student. "Did you really think we would fail to consult you should something have happened during the night? There are currently two people in wizarding Britain who might possibly qualify as being at least mildly knowledgeable on soul magic. You and the Dark Lord. Since the Dark Lord is one of those affected, we would of course consult you as well. Which does _not_ give you leave to make yourself sick, researching something we do not yet know that we even need! Bed! Now!"

"But!" Hermione protested feebly, knowing she was in the wrong, even as she looked toward her friend who merely glowered back. His disappointment was clear in his eyes, as he jerked his head toward the doorway, confirming the order to rest. Seeing this, she acquiesced with a small nod and headed off to bed, but not without handing her meticulous notes to the glowering potions master. She silently asked the older man to double check her work, which he nodded his agreement of by accepting the notes as she left the room. Hermione slept through lunch, having practically passed out the moment her head hit the pillow.


	6. Family and Territory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at the Family tapestry and Voldemort scares off one of Harry's other suitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years Everyone! ~Chibi & Gen!

As the hours progressed, both Harry and Voldemort found it easier and easier to get incrementally further from one another. Eventually, it hit a maximum of twenty feet with minor signs that the limit would possibly expand more or even completely disappear later on. Had Hermione been awake to notice, she would have gotten highly suspicious of this behavior and started researching bonds; especially soul bonds. As it was, she woke up around lunch time to find that the two wizards could be in different rooms, provided those rooms were physically close together.

By three o'clock, Harry was fairly bored of reading and staying close to Voldemort, who seemed to be practically inundated with dreaded paperwork. Harry was honestly surprised at how much paperwork being a Dark Lord actually entailed. He had yet to realize that he probably would have a similar amount once he got his hands on Dumbledore's Light Lord records. He was also unaware of exactly how much work his other Lordships would involve, since Dumbledore had declined to have Harry trained as a proper heir, more concerned with keeping him physically safe than keeping him informed. Plus, Sirius had been on the run, then he died before having a chance to teach his godson much about the duties of a family lord.

The result of Harry's boredom had him wandering into the Tapestry room with his notes on the Black family tree and looking into how well the repairs were going. As he entered the room, he half tripped over a locket that looked like someone had taken Slytherin's locket and engraved a silver sword into it to have the curving emerald S slither around it for the front image. The effect caused the locket image to look like a sword surrounded by an emerald green swirling, spiraling line of magic. Scowling a bit, Harry picked it up and absent mindedly pocketed the necklace, not realizing that he had reclaimed both Slytherin's locket and Gryffindor's sword with that simple act.

Voldemort, on the other hand, could feel the slight tugging in his chest that they had guessed indicated Harry was straying a bit too far for the bond's liking. He knew he'd have to either get Harry to stay near him for an hour or two, preferably within five feet or less, or make the brat sit in his lap for a good fifteen minute cuddle. No one was in the room to see the soft smile flit across his face at that thought, before it quickly faded away as he remembered the file on Harry that he'd snagged from the muggles who had captured them. Sighing, he pulled it from the desk that he had claimed to use for his paperwork, deciding that he had better do more than simply skim it this time. He settled in to read and vainly hoped that it wouldn't be too bad. They couldn't afford for these bastards to have any decent information on him or Harry, and it would be so much worse if they figured out that the two of them were effectively the leaders of the magical world, regardless of the official governments.

Twenty minutes later, Voldemort's Occlumency skills were being strained as he tried to keep his fury in check and keep it from leaking down the link to Harry. Some of the information had clearly come from Wormtail but even more of it seems to have come from Harry's so called _relatives_. Voldemort silently vowed that they would suffer before they died, for this and for every injury, missed meal, and insult they had given his little green-eyed lion. The next page that he read nearly broke his control over his anger as well as his tenuously restrained magic.

"Elf!" Voldemort roared as he shot from behind his desk to pace furiously, unable to keep his voice level as Kreacher popped into the room.

"What can Kreacher be doing for the great Master Dark Lord, sir?" Kreacher asked deferentially, practically fawning over the wizard as he bowed so low he was nearly lying on the floor.

"Tell Severus Snape that I wish to see him and get someone to stay with Harry or at least to stay near him. I don't want to risk something happening to him," Voldemort ordered harshly, temporarily stopping his pacing to wait impatiently for the potions master, as Kreacher sent him a nod and an adoring look before popping away to do his bidding. It was less then five minutes later when the dour man knocked and was granted entry into the room that had become the Dark Lord's office.

"My Lord?" Snape inquired softly, his face going from mildly curious to blank as he noted the older wizard's agitated state.

"Do you know what they were going to do with Harry? Those animals?" Voldemort hissed, gesturing to the file that lay innocently on the desk top. "Severus, they were going to try and forcefully _breed_ him!" Voldemort informed his long time friend, agitation clear in his tone and jerky movements, as he continued to pace. The only thing that gave away Snape's surprise and shock was the slightest widening of his eyes before his obsidian eyes started to glitter darkly in a mixture of rage, disgust, and a protectiveness for his charge.

"Is there anything else concerning in the file you clearly... retrieved while we were incarcerated?" Snape drawled, trying to hide his discomfort and sudden need to check that Harry was safe.

"They weren't simply going to force him to sire a single child. They were going to put him in a breeding _program_. They were going to use him as a stud to create more wizards in a controlled environment, before dissecting him when he was of no further use or when they decided that they had ripped enough children away from him!" Voldemort raged, attempting to keep temper, magic, and voice all under control and relatively quiet.

"It would never have worked," Severus soothed, resisting the urge to flinch back or put out a soothing hand toward the man before him. "Potter is far too stubborn. He would never have consigned a child to that kind of hell. He is sickeningly pure hearted." 

The Potion Master's tone had Voldemort's head snapping around to stare at him, some of the barely contained fury redirecting toward the dark man, as a low growl started to build in the ruby eyed man's throat. Snape immediately realized his mistake and bowed his head in submission, watching the other wizard warily through the curtain of his hair as he began to sweat in fear. He hoped that he wouldn't be killed for verbally attacking Harry after Voldemort had practically announced his claim on the boy. Not to mention the fact that they had just discovered a very dangerous threat against the same green-eyed brat, one which he had effectively made light of. 

The Dark Lord's fury spiked and he had to lock his muscles so that he wouldn't physically reach out and strangle the man in front of him. His magic swirled around them and the room furiously, tossing parchments around the room and even moving books as the wall hangings fluttered in the magical air currents. Snape remained as still as possible with his head bowed, not wanting the barely contained furious power swirling around the room to be directed towards him. 

It took a gargantuan effort for Voldemort to reign in his power and leave Snape untouched, as he forced his emotions into a type of lock down, forced them back to be released the next time one of them offered harm to him or his. With a visible effort, he forced himself to calmly walk over and sit down at the desk. He refused to look at the file that contained Harry's information, since he knew that if he did his magic and temper would set it alight and they wouldn't have it any more. While that might not necessarily be a bad thing, he hadn't finished reading it and would have to finish it later if he didn't want to risk destroying it yet.

"Harry doesn't leave the house without an escort of at least two battle experienced adult wizards, with a preference of at least one having experience with muggle technology. I want them to be able to recognize when it would be better to risk trying to get the brat out or to let themselves be taken intact. A pureblood raised without muggle influence won't know what a gun is, muchless how dangerous they are. Make sure they carry a back up wand, if at all possible," Voldemort informed the darkly clad man. Severus could see the glowing fury in his eyes visibly dimming to hot coals of slow burning anger, as he calmed considerably, having found something to do about the situation. "I would also prefer it if they were willing to listen to the green-eyed menace, but it would do if they understand that loosing a Lord of Magic is unacceptable in this crisis and can hold their own in battle or a serious duel. You already know who on the light side is acceptable to accompany him, and from Harry's memories, Granger is an acceptable back up, as are the twin menaces. Harry doesn't have the same amount of experience as I do when it comes to dueling but he is more up to date on what we might have to face when it comes to the muggles."

"Of course, my Lord," Severus murmured, carefully watching his first master and astonished that it looked like he might actually get out of this meeting without being crucioed to help relieve the man's anger and frustration if nothing else. He also noted that the Dark Lord had more control over both his magic and his temper compared to even a few days ago. The dour man supposed that the increased stability, not to mention self control, must be an effect of whatever soul magic had happened in the tapestry room.

"Let's just hope they don't discover that a wizard can carry a child to term," Voldemort muttered darkly, his mind immediately jumping to Harry pregnant with his child and the muggles ripping the child from Harry after he gave birth.

"They would need potions for that, my Lord, or someone on the same power level of yourself or Potter. In any case, the potions fail for any wizard below a certain level of power," Snape pointed out levely, glad that they had moved back to the more concerning matter, and that Voldemort had calmed somewhat, to think on the situation a bit more rationally.

"From the fresh runes inscribed on whatever stole away our magic in that place, I would say that they have access to at least some wizards who would be happy to cooperate with them. I wouldn't rule out the fools giving them access to potions, especially pregnancy potions," Voldemort pointed out darkly, before standing there for a few minutes brooding on the problem.

Voldemort felt another tug at his chest from whatever bond they had, but this time it also tugged at his magic, warning him that he had been away from his little green-eyed menace for too long. With a calming breath, he set his papers to rights by hand, increasing his calm center before getting back up and heading for the door to the room. Snape trailed after him, as Voldemort unerringly followed the link to the tapestry room where Harry was standing in front of the Black family tapestry, waving his wand and repairing one of the branches, adding even more family to the tapestry. Bellatrix sulked in a corner along side the Malfoy family, the small group of purebloods watching Harry with a mixture of interest and disapproval.

"What are you doing?" Voldemort asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he watched the burned edges of the tapestry not only knit back together but grow to add an entirely new family branch line that extended for at least four generations.

"Sirius started to repair it before he died. I guess he was trying not to go crazy, since Dumbledore wouldn't let him out of the house," Harry said softly as he waved his wand one final time before stepping back to study his repair work. He nodded and turned to face his counter-part before continuing his explanation, his attention completely on Voldemort. "We both wanted to know who else out there could be our family. The best way to do that, was to start repairing all the burned away branches." Harry suddenly smiled brightly. "It's wonderful! I never thought I would find myself related to Neville and Ron. Even Luna! And if we go back far enough, I'm even related to you, Tom." His smile turned sad as he looked into the Dark Lord's eyes. "I know you grew up wanting to be loved, just as much as I did. You gave up after waiting for so long, but it never occurred to you to go looking for it, did it? To think you're actually blood family to most of your followers. There were so many blanks to fill in. There still are so many. We've had all manner of people in here to help us fill in the blanks. Even goblins from Gringotts." Harry turned to gaze at the repaired bits of the tapestry with unveiled wonder.

"Don't call me Tom. Only the old man did that, and I hated it every time," Voldemort ordered in annoyance before getting distracted by what Harry had said about the Black family tree and his own possible place on it. His eyes drifted to it in curiosity, speculation, and barely contained hope. "I'm really on there?"

"Yup! What really surprised me though was that you're closer to the main Black family through your Dad than your Mum. He must have been a squib, not a muggle," Harry explained as he turned and quickly searched for Voldemort's branch on the tapestry. 

Everyone was so distracted trying to find Voldemort's branch on the tree that they didn't notice Bellatrix coming over to a previously repaired branch on the tapestry with a determined look on her face. She raised her wand and hissed _Incendio_ , casting the spell with vicious satisfaction. The satisfied look was still on her face when the spell rebounded off of the tapestry and blasted her backwards into the opposite wall, drawing everyone's attention.

"Did I mention the impervious spell we put on it? No more nonsense of scorching people off the family tree simply because of a difference in ideals. No, this room and tapestry will continue to grow with the family. With all the future additions and all the past blanks filled. Family should be cherished, Bellatrix. Not scorned." Harry told them innocently, earning long looks from the other men in the room and an amused one from Narcissa. Bellatrix looked up at her family lord resentfully from where she had fallen, eyebrows and hair scorched from her attempt.

"Cold, Potter, real cold," Draco said, his tone almost approving as he looked at his long time rival in respect. He wouldn't have dared to cross his insane aunt if it had been him in Harry's place.

"Not really," Harry said with a casual, almost careless shrug. "Family really is important. Even more for people like me. The only family I knew about were the Dursleys and they would have been perfectly happy to see me tortured to death but they're also the only family I've ever really known. What would you do if you had the chance to find out more about your possible family and all the family you had for most of your life would cheerfully see you dead and everything you had even _touched_ muchless owned burned in front of you?"

"Which is one reason I won't ever let you go. Anyone who wants to be in your life will have to accept that," Voldemort said quietly enough that only Harry and Severus heard, both of them completely understanding the sentiment despite all of the possible complications that they knew would arise from that simple statement.

"You do realize that since you're the head of the family and this is the master family tapestry, by repairing it you've accepted everyone back into the Black family?" Narcissa asked, more than a little amused, partly because she had absolutely hated the enforced separation from her sister Andromeda.

"Really? Great!" Harry said enthusiastically, a huge grin spreading across his face.

"Potty, that means that _you_ are now the family lord for all of the families that didn't have a lordship," Draco pointed out, giving his year-mate an odd look as if he were crazy for wanting to take on that much additional responsibility when he had only been Lord Black and Lord Potter for little more than a year and a half.

"So? What's the difference?" Harry asked completely clueless. Everyone looked at him in a mixture of surprise, shock, dismay, and dawning understanding.

"Mr. Potter, what do you know about your Lordship duties?" Lucius asked carefully as he watched Harry carefully.

"Um, the outline that Hermione gave me earlier said something about being responsible for the general defense of the magical world, being in charge of all healers and potions masters unless they specialized with dark magic and potions or combat." Harry said, thinking carefully about what the diagram and notes had said were his responsibilities and what belonged to Voldemort.

"I was referring to your Lordship duties as the head of the Black and Potter families," Lucius explained softly, his face carefully blank.

"I have no idea, beyond some of the really simple stuff. Sirius tried to tell me but we were always interrupted before he could get very far," Harry admitted, wondering what exactly that had to do with anything.

"Oh dear," Narcissa said in quiet dismay, as the shocked and dismayed looks on everyone's faces finally registered to the young light lord.

"I guess that's bad?" Harry asked sheepishly as Draco covered his face with his hands in a rare show of embarrassment for someone else. Voldemort growled low at yet another injury done to his little lion, never mind that the reason he hadn't been taught was that the Dark Lord himself had continually tried to kill the younger wizard.

"Aunt Walburga must have realized that he hadn't been taught anything about being a lord. It wasn't just that he didn't know anything about being a Black, he hasn't even been taught the basics that any child in possible line for a lordship is taught." Narcissa said in dismayed understanding of the portrait's words from when they had first entered the house.

"I've been busy trying to stay alive," Harry pointed out with a careless shrug, hiding his insecurity and lack of understanding at the enormity of the disservice that had been done to him.

"Someone obviously wanted to control him and I bet that Fudge went right along with it. He's weak enough to obey father whenever he asks for anything after all." Draco growled, indignant that any pureblood heir would grow up without being taught the absolute basics that they would need to assume their lordship.

"He wasn't supposed to survive to take his Lordships, so there wasn't much point in teaching him when the time could be dedicated to trying to keep him alive long enough to at least destroy our lord first," Snape told them quietly, reminding both Lords of magic about the targets of the golden trio's little treasure hunt.

"That's... just wrong. Even Aunt Bella isn't that cold," Draco declared with a shiver into the sudden silence of the room.

"The old coot was desperate and I'm not entirely certain that he was in his right mind before Harry was born, muchless while he was growing up. Severus, your opinion on the old goat's sanity?" Voldemort asked, mildly interested in the answer but more interested in watching Harry for signs of distress at the turn the conversation had taken.

"Utterly mad," Snape said promptly, without a moment of hesitation. "Brilliant in many ways but loosing his grip on sanity even before the curse from your ring took hold. I had diffculty slowing it as much as I did and simply stopping it, muchless actually curing it, was completely out of the question."

"You managed to slow it down?" Voldemort asked, his expression and tone taking on an odd quality mixed with the obvious respect shining from his eyes. Snape bowed his head toward his master, somehow intimating a full formal bow with that short graceful movement.

"It was very difficult, my Lord. A credit to your power and skill," Snape told him almost proudly, but whether the pride was for Voldemort's skill for casting the spell or Snape's for stopping it even temporarily could be read either way for all the implied flattery.

"Yes, Severus, you have every reason to be proud of that accomplishment," Voldemort told him, amusement lacing his voice, choosing to read the response as his friend being proud of accomplishing something difficult and preening over it even if the man had every right to preen over the accomplishment.

"Wait, his hand!" Harry said in surprised realization. "That's why he made you promise to kill him! That's why he said please! He was asking you to kill him, not to stop!"

"He was already dying," Snape confirmed, with a short nod, ignoring the shocked jerk of Draco's head as he whipped around to stare at Harry. "He didn't want Draco to sully his soul with murder and I had already killed, not to mention that I owed a life debt to the Headmaster in addition to the Unbreakable Vow I swore with Narcissa to finish Draco's task."

"I must have been insane when I assigned that task," Voldemort mused, ignoring the others in the room as he pondered the situation and the way that Dumbledore had deftly manipulated him yet again. Lucius was looking at his family and friend with a new understanding of the situation and the possible ramifications. Harry could practically see the way his mind was rearranging what he knew into a new shape and pattern, reforming all of his plans even as the blond man met his wife's unflinching gaze.

"How could you know that?" Draco's incredulous question had Voldemort coming out of his reverie and both of his parents looking at him in slight disapproval over his tone in the presence of their lord.

"I was under my invisibility cloak, and Dumbledore had put me in a body bind before shoving me against the back wall when we heard you coming up the stairs," Harry explained, his tone earnest in his discovery. "I saw it all and I tried to go after you when the spell let go and I could move again. He must have made sure he was at the edge of the tower so that the power of the spell would make him fall. He must have been waiting for Snape and that's why he kept talking, kept distracting you."

"Why is it that you seem to keep me not only on my toes but in my right mind, hmm?" Voldemort asked rhetorically with wry amusement. 

Harry met the man's ruby eyes filled with amusement with his own unflinching gaze before giving a shrug as if to say 'I have no clue'. A moment later the Dark Lord's gaze landed on the glint of gold peaking out of Harry's pocket before he reached out a hand and snagged it out of Harry's pocket, earning an annoyed look from his younger counter-part. Voldemort stared at the changed locket before looking back up into Harry's face, looking for any recognition of what he held and realizing that Harry had no clue what the item was. Silently he explored the new locket with his magic before detecting the trigger which would allow someone to trigger the transformation from locket to sword and back again. 

Giving the nonverbal transformation command to the newly combined artifact, the others watched as it changed back into the altered version of Gryffindor's sword. They all stared at the changes. The locket portion of the necklace was now clearly embedded on one side where the Griffin image had resided on the cross-hilt and the metal that had made up the chain melted to put the image of the wizard on the hilt in stark contrast. The locket was even still able to open so that the hilt now had a secret compartment.

"How... did _that_ happen?" Harry asked in complete puzzlement, easily recognizing both artifacts.

"I have no idea. I suppose that it could have gotten caught up in the soul magic from last night since the locket previously held a part of my soul and the chain was tangled around the sword," Voldemort said thoughtfully. "It is obvious that is no longer true, yet you still hold a small portion of my soul or I would not have been able to help you last night, not the way that I did. I will have to check all of my Horcruxes to see which ones I reabsorbed last night and which remain, if any."

"Well, I'm still your horcrux," Harry pointed out sourly, earning a toothy, not to mention predatory grin and chuckle from his dark counter-part, as both of them ignored the gaping reaction of Bellatrix and the Malfoys. Snape muttered under his breath as he glared balefully at the transformed sword that he had risked so much to get into Harry's hands that day in the Forest of Dean.

"You're insane!" Draco blurted out as he stared at Harry.

"Nope. Just slightly unstable with a saving people thing," Harry responded cheekily as if he were talking to Ron or Hermione.

"A saving people thing that will have to be curtailed," Voldemort said sharply, his attention snapping back to the younger wizard as he mentally commanded the sword to return to locket form. Pausing a moment to consider his next move, the Dark Lord considered the locket and the young lion carefully before moving over to him and physically putting the locket around Harry's neck. "Keep that with you. Gods know, that if you loose your wand, you'll at least have _something_ that might get you out of trouble."

Draco sucked in a sharp breath, finally realizing that the Dark Lord was essentially courting his long time rival. A sharp look from his godfather had the blond youth dropping his gaze in shame for giving so much away. Voldemort ignored the Malfoy heir in favor of dealing with his stubborn Gryffindor who was trying to take the necklace off and hand it back to the older man.

"No, the necklace was your mum's. The only things I have from my parents are my dad's cloak and the map. I won't take something like that from you," Harry protested vehemently. 

Even as he struggled with the piece of jewelry he failed to realize that the sneaky bastard had cast a spell on the chain so that only Voldemort would be able to remove it from around his neck. Unless Harry needed the blade and summoned it, the necklace would stay where it was whenever it was in locket form, whether the sable haired youth wanted it or not. Voldemort's smirk is what eventually tipped Harry off to the spell and had him realizing that he wasn't simply having trouble taking it off, he _couldn't_ take it off.

"You cast a spell so that I couldn't take it off?" Harry deadpanned his accusation with a scowl aimed at his irksome counter-part who continued to smirk. Green eyes rolled as he sighed heavily and stopped trying to return the very useful item to his once enemy.

"My Lord, perhaps you might allow my wife and son to instruct Mr. Potter in at least the basics of his lordship duties?" Lucius asked, being very careful to keep his face as non-expressive as he could make it.

"Very well," Voldemort agreed, eyes narrowed in consideration before he continued a moment later. "You should thank him, Lucius. He's been keeping the soul piece that was in the diary safe, along side the one that is still inside his scar."

"No, he shouldn't," Harry parried with a snort of amusement. "The only reason I beat your teenage diary is that he forgot about the properties of Phoenix tears and Fawkes helped keep me alive. I'm also pretty sure that the basilisk was confused or was just playing with me. I was _twelve_ , for Merlin's sake! Pure luck, and a helpful Phoenix, not to mention a magic sword that fell out of a hat."

"So that's were Gryffindor hid it," Voldemort mused, lost in thought for a moment before returning his mind to the tapestry room and the people in it. "You have permission to teach him the basics of being a Lord. I will handle anything pertaining to his Light Lord duties that Dumbledore failed to cover."

"Mostly he wanted to talk about your past and what you might have turned into a horcrux," Harry offered, unwilling to admit that most of his escapes had been on the purest of luck, not realizing that his quick thinking and ability to adapt was a major factor translating into skillful survival. 

Voldemort sighed and nodded, understanding that anything Harry had trouble with in regards to his Light Lord status and duties would now be a joint effort between light and dark. In return, he would have to balance it by asking Harry to accompany him on some things and help solve problems on others. A moment later, his mind went over that again and ran through the duties of a spouse making him much happier about the situation. He mentally checked with his magic and the part of their bond left over from the transfer of his soul shards. He noted that enough time had been spent with Harry for the moment to appease the bond so that he could get back to work. Harry would just have to sit next to him at supper and they would probably need to hold each other in bed again.

"I will leave Harry in your capable hands, Lucius. I have to get through a few more of the reports before the evening meal," Voldemort said, excusing himself and returning to his hated paperwork. Harry rolled his eyes, knowing from the day spent with him that the man dreaded the paperwork but was still doing it any way.

"He needs to take more breaks," Harry muttered, watching the man leave the room, before sighing and turning back to the Malfoys in resignation. 

What followed was a grueling session which first explored exactly what Harry knew about their society before diving straight into what he would absolutely have to know. They also bluntly informed him that Bellatrix and all three Malfoys would be tutoring him in all aspects of pureblood society and custom. Even if he never used the information he would have to know it. By the time that supper came around Harry was happy to escape his, in his opinion, crazy cousins, having discovered fairly early on in the repair project that he was related to the Malfoys through his Black-born Grandmother, Dorea. At one point, he had even made sure to show them where he was on the tapestry when he talked Draco into looking for himself on the big piece of still growing fabric.

"I swear, if you leave me with them like that again, I'll kill you and make them resurrect you again just so I can keep killing you," Harry muttered to Voldemort as he took his seat at the man's right, drawing a chuckle out of him.

"Oh? Then you would prefer I gave Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Madam Weasley carte blanche to take you clothes shopping with an unlimited draw on my Gringotts account? Or even on yours?" Voldemort asked evilly, earning a horrified stare from the younger wizard.

"What did you do?" Ron demanded hotly, seeing Harry's horrified look.

"Threatened him with a shopping trip to get him properly outfitted, putting your mother, Lady Malfoy, and Bellatrix in charge," Voldemort told him pleasantly, making Ron first turn green, then white and then proceed to try to sink into non-existence in his seat, sending an apologetic look toward his friend.

"That's not a bad idea," Hermione said thoughtfully, earning a horrified look of her own from both Ron and Harry.

"Have you figured out whatever the snitch is that Dumbledore gave me yet?" Harry asked in a desperate attempt to distract his friend from the idea of shopping, muchless with _him_ as the victim. Then he remembered that Hermione probably had a better idea of how much money that he had then he did and paled, fervently hoping that she took the bait of the puzzle piece.

"What snitch?" Voldemort asked, his curiosity piqued.

"The snitch from his first Quidditch game, Dumbledore left it to him in his will," Hermione explained before taking a bite of her food and looking at her friend with a thoughtful narrow gaze. Harry knew from that look alone he hadn't completely escaped from the possible shopping trip but he had at least gained a reprieve.

"The one you nearly swallowed?" Draco asked, a barely contained cackle echoing in his voice, causing Harry to nod almost sheepishly.

"Do you have it with you?" Voldemort asked, looking at the young lion once again seated next to him, as he remembered his own disappointing view of that game. He was glad that Quirrell had failed to actually kill the young seeker. Harry reluctantly pulled it from his moke skin pouch and handed it over. Voldemort paused in his meal to examine the snitch, noting that something in the balance was off and that it seemed too heavy, that's when he remembered that Snitches have flesh memory and handed it back to his little lion. "Put in your mouth. If the old man put anything inside it, touching your tongue and the inside of your cheeks should trigger the seal." Harry smirked and took the snitch back and put it to his lips, then handed it back to Voldemort.

"That's all that happens when I put it in my mouth," Harry explained, turning the snitch in the Dark Lord's fingers to show the inscription _'I open at the close.'_ Voldemort hummed and narrowed his eyes on it, thinking it over. From everything he knew of what Dumbledore had planned or at least had hoped to happen, he had a pretty good idea what it meant.

"From the inscription, I would assume he wanted you to open it when you finally faced me and allowed me to kill you," the Dark Lord told Harry, handing the snitch back to him. "It probably needs a password as well as flesh memory to open." Harry frowned at him, wondering what the password could be.

Ron choked on his bite of brisket and had to have his back smacked hard before he managed to swallow.

"What do you mean when Harry was supposed to let you kill him??" Ron demanded, being the only one brash enough to actually voice the question on almost everyone's mind.

"Dumbledore forgot to mention that my scar is one of the objects he wanted us to destroy and that it had to be destroyed last," Harry told him with a grimace. "We figured it out earlier and I forgot to tell you. Part of the agreement so that we can work together is that we stop trying to destroy them."

"It might not matter any way, not after what happened last night," Hermione pointed out reasonably, earning a groan from Ron as he clutched at his head in false pain.

"The entire board has changed," Ron said in dismay causing Hermione to snort into her drink.

"Ron, the board changed when we were captured by muggles and experimented on," Harry reminded his friend with an eye roll that was worthy of Ginny at her most exasperated and borderline ready to start casting hexes. 

Harry took a moment to consider the snitch in his hand. 

"What would I say before walking out to die?" Harry asked, talking more to himself than anyone else. 

"Perhaps it means just that?" Hermione offered, ignoring the subdued silence that the room had descended into as the topic became grim. 

Harry looked over at Hermione, then back down at the snitch. He raised it to his lips again and whispered, "I'm about to die." 

Voldemort had to keep a tight leash on his magic as he heard Harry declare his own death. Even if it was only meant as a password to open a child's toy; the very idea of Harry dying, while in the past it had given him great joy, now it just caused a block of ice to settle in his gut. 

The small ball opened almost immediately after Harry whispered to it, and everyone at the table watched in intense interest as he looked at what was hidden in the golden toy. He picked it up out of the still fluttering ball and everyone could see the fairly unremarkable small stone. Harry immediately recognized it as the stone from the Gaunt ring. Voldemort recognized it as well and, with a mental groan, concluded that the ring that had been in his family for generations was gone, destroyed by Dumbledore. 

What no one expected was that the elder wand, which Voldemort had taken from Dumbledore's tomb and currently carried along with his own wand, would shoot from the Dark Lord's robes into Harry's hand. The next moment Harry's invisibility cloak shot from Hermione's enchanted bag at her waist and hung its self from the young wizard's shoulders before all three objects gave off a flash of white light. The flash coincided with a gasp from both Lords of Magic as they felt the magic of the objects bind with their own magical cores and to their very souls, with Harry receiving the majority of the shock as the primary holder and true Master of Death. Silence reigned as most of the table stared at Harry and the three objects in a mixture of confusion and concern.

"Mate? I think you should put them down. Magic stuff that acts like that, like it's got a mind of its own is usually bad," Ron said carefully, as his father and those of his brothers, who were there, nodded fervently in agreement. Molly had to snatch her own hand back as she had reached out to try and take one or more of the Hallows from Harry in an aborted attempt at motherly protection. Hermione watched carefully noting everything that was happening, knowing that she would probably need the information later to research what had just happened. 

Harry swallowed hard and carefully set both wand and stone down on the table before quickly scooting his chair back away from the table and the mysterious objects. He eyed the two Hallows nervously and resolved to give one or both of them away at the first opportunity. Bellatrix's gaze landed on the stone and she realized that she had seen it once before, set in a ring on Voldemort's hand. Her eyes darted to the older wizard and then back to the stone before she quickly snatched it up.

"This belongs to our lord!" Bellatrix hissed at the young Gryffindor who had an eyebrow raised in her direction at her actions.

"Fine. Keep it," Harry told her fervently. The moment he spoke the words the stone began to heat up, quickly reaching the point of burning her hands. The insane woman screeched in pain dropping it. The stone never hit the table, instead it gently floated over to hover in front of Harry until he sighed and held out his open hand to accept the stone back into his ownership.

"That's one of the Hallows, isn't it?" Hermione asked quietly, drawing everyone's attention. "You're the Master of Death; you inherited the cloak, you just accepted the stone from Dumbledore, and you won the wand at some point. From what just happened, I suppose that one doesn't ever have to touch the wand to win it. Now that you own all three... I don't know what will happen."

"Simple, I answer to his call and _I_ decide when to collect him. That doesn't mean he can't get hurt badly enough that I would have to fix it or give him a new body but you can't have everything," Death said with a chuckle as he faded from the shadows to stand just behind Harry who quickly shot out of his chair and twisted around to see who was talking, paling as he realized who their newest guest was. 

Death gave a slight bow in greeting to his young master who nodded back dumbly. The dead silence that consumed the room would have let you hear a pin drop onto thick carpet. Eventually, Hermione cleared her throat, startling everyone back into a semblance of normal movement and sound. Raising her eyes to meet the empty sockets in the skull that Death used for a face, she asked a question that had everyone stilling once more to hear the answer.

"Are you here to take Harry then? Or do you really acknowledge him as your master, with everything that implies?" She asked boldly, proving once and for all why she was placed in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw.

"Ah, Hermione Jean Granger, I hope you don't expect the simple erasure of your parents' memories to protect them from me?" Death asked with a quiet chuckle.

"It wasn't meant to. It was meant to protect them from being targeted by Voldemort and his Death Eaters for being my parents, since Harry is my friend," Hermione responded just as bold as before, making Ron gulp, thinking she had provoked Death. "Also, what should we call you? We need to have a way to differentiate the process of death with... well, you."

"Mort will do, little witch, or Thanos, or even Muerte," Death/Mort answered, amusement clear in his tone.

"Death by any other name..." Voldemort murmured, more than a little disturbed that Harry was now the master of the being he had fled from for so many years.

"My master might have claimed you, little thief, but if you do not honor him and treat him well not even his express order will keep me from collecting you," Mort said ominously, seeming to loom almost protectively over Harry, though he had not moved from his place a few strides away from Harry, who was still staring dumbly at the creature that had appeared behind him. Voldemort wisely kept quiet, his only acknowledgement being a simple nod, before reaching out to gently turn Harry back around pushing him back into his chair. He then silently pointed at the youth's food.

"Eat," Voldemort ordered, shoving a fork into the now scowling wizard's hand. "I don't care that you're now the Master of Death, you can't afford to go without food. You've not received enough of it over the years, in any case."

"I'm not a child," Harry argued petulantly, before grudgingly taking another bite of his food, unconsciously encouraging everyone to return to normal and ignore Death's presence. 

Death obliged the unspoken command and faded back into the shadows, returning to his work. He had completed his greeting and congratulation of his master. Conversation was stilted for the rest of the meal, until one of the twins managed to catch one of the Lestrange brothers with a prank, setting off a minor prank war between the two sets of brothers for the rest of the meal. Molly put a stop to it once everyone was done eating and set all four wizards to cleaning up the mess, ignoring their grumblings and standing guard over them to make sure they actually did it. 

Harry quickly slipped away back to the tapestry room, absently noting that the distance limit on his bond with Voldemort seemed to have expanded to a distance of sixty feet or so. He was grateful, since he didn't really feel like needing to stay near his counter-part, or anyone else for that matter, after what happened during supper. Taking out his regular Holly wand, he started to work on the tapestry again. It wasn't long before he noticed that he was less alone than he had thought. A Slytherin student, Blaise Zabini, if he remembered correctly, had joined him and was watching him work. Pausing for a moment in the repair work, he looked over at the other boy with a questioning look on his face.

"You realize of course that being able to command Death makes you even more attractive then you already were?" Blaise asked as disingenuously as possible as he strode over to stand near Harry and pretended to look at the tapestry. "But then you already knew that you have the looks of an angel, the money of one of the oldest light pureblood families, and blood nearly as pure as the Black or Malfoy families, even with your status as a half-blood."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, staring at the chocolate colored boy in complete confusion. "Yeah, I'll give you how much money the Potters probably have since I really don't know, but looking like an angel? Pure blood? Attractive? You're crazy, if you think I have any of that. I'm ugly, covered in scars. Nothing but a freak and a burden."

"Where the hell do you get that idea?" Blaise asked, honestly confused at Harry's response. Neither of them noticed when Voldemort entered the room and quietly hissed when he saw how close Blaise was standing to Harry, leaning slightly as if ready to try and steal a kiss. Before he could say anything, the dark Slytherin leaned in and stole a kiss, only to be shoved back by the Gryffindor who stared at him incredulously, his stance wary and ready to bolt.

"Harry? Severus wants to speak to you about giving you nutrient potions to try and help correct the damage they did when you were younger," Voldemort said quietly, startling both of them and sending Harry off with a short nod of grateful acknowledgement from the green-eyed wizard. The Dark Lord turned to eye the young Zabini heir, a menacing look slipping onto his face as he cast a non-verbal wandless silencing spell to keep their discussion... private. Zabini quietly gulped and trembled slightly, giving away his nervousness almost as much as his inching toward the doorway did. 

"Why do you pursue him?" The quiet menacing question startled the young snake into blurting out an honest answer.

"He has a high status and is very rich and influential. He's also powerful, decent looking and can probably be taught to please in bed. This new stuff just makes him even better," Blaise said honestly, paling when he felt the temperature in the room drop as he realized exactly what he had said. He tried not to choke on the quickly rising suffocating dark magic that was clearly coming from the Dark Lord. A quick glance at the older man's face confirmed for the younger that he was absolutely pissed at what Blaise had said and done. The magic surged, tossing Blaise against the wall and pinning him there more than a foot above the floor.

"He's mine!" Voldemort hissed in fury, hiding his disappointment at the state of his beloved Hogwarts house, if this was the way one of them acted, without any kind of caution or cunning. "Harry is the only reason you aren't already dead for daring to lay hands on what is not yours and never will be yours. I will not risk destroying the truce simply to deal with the poor choices of a fool unworthy of being in Slytherin's great house. The only use I can see for you at the moment is to carry a warning to any who might seek to threaten my claim on him. Pray that you show promise for other uses or you may not live much longer."

"Yes, my Lord," Blaise whimpered, looking toward the floor in shame from his slightly lopsided position against the wall. 

A moment later, Voldemort released the magic holding him against the wall and allowed the dark skinned youth to limp from the room. Just as he passed, Voldemort's magic surged, hitting him in the back with a spell that the young man didn't dare to try to investigate as he did his best to run. It wasn't until years later that Blaise discovered just what the spell was that the Dark Lord had cast, when he found out that he was unable to sire children, his reproductive system crippled into near uselessness by the dark spell.


	7. Rescue Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lords of Magic get some news and make a plan of attack.

The next morning, Voldemort made Harry help him with his own paperwork, citing Light Lord training and duties, using the excuse to keep him close and get help with the piles of parchment that constituted a large part of both their jobs. As a result, Harry was present when one of the Death Eaters he had sent out to find information about the latest muggle threat came back, bursting into his impromptu office in a flurry of robes and excitement. When the intruding Death Eater caught sight of both wizards, he froze. With a chill racing down his spine, he realized exactly how close he came to dying. Both Harry and Voldemort were out of their seats and in defensive crouches, wands aimed at the man's head and heart. It took a moment for them all to realize what had happened and for everyone to move back into more relaxed standing positions, before Voldemort finally motioned for the man to report.

"We found another one, my Lord!" The Death Eater said eagerly, practically bouncing in place. "The muggles have a base near the Thames, in the Tower of London! This one appears to be holding mostly magical beings and creatures that look human-like or are very obviously not wizards or witches. They even managed to snag a metamorphmagus and tossed her in with a werewolf that had been trying to protect her and her baby. Jaydin saw them snag at least three Vampires who were minding their own business."

"The Tower of London?" Harry asked in disbelief, still too muggle to consider that the place might be more than just a historic monument and a place they kept the crown jewels.

"I still remember when they occasionally used it as a prison. I believe that the muggle government stopped that after using it to hold the Kray twins in 1952. Then there were the spies they executed there during the last muggle world war," Voldemort commented pensively, not at all surprised that it would be used as a supposedly secret base. "I want you to return and observe until our raiding force arrives. Do _not_ get captured, they have enough hostages as it is. If you get a chance, cast a deep level mapping spell and make at least twenty copies to be given to the raiding force when they arrive. We'll use the maps in the Black family library and the muggle public information to create the basic plan, adjusting as needed when we arrive and see what the mapping spell found. Be ready to help destroy the base and possibly the entire set of buildings."

"Yes, my Lord," The Death Eater answered far more calmly with a deep bow, before leaving to obey his orders. Voldemort looked over at Harry almost speculatively as he poked at their bond, causing the younger wizard to glance at him sharply.

"I'm not going to be able to leave you behind, am I?" Voldemort asked with a deep sigh, earning a startled look and a shake of Harry's head in answer.

"Have you actually looked at the information Hermione found on being the Light Lord? And do you honestly think our bond will stretch that far?" Harry demanded suspiciously. Voldemort grunted but didn't bring up leaving the younger man behind again, as they both shifted through the maps that Kreacher brought them without prompting, looking for one of the Tower of London. Eventually, they found one that was only slightly out of date, the automatically updating charm having failed less than ten years previously.

"Shite, this is going to be a problem," Harry muttered when he saw just how much like a castle the former palace actually was.

"It isn't Hogwarts, there won't be any local magic to contend with," Voldemort pointed out, correctly judging that Harry had probably thought they would have to deal with and possibly fight the magic of a castle like that which saturated Hogwarts.

"I was also thinking of how many rooms the place has and the fact that we don't know what they changed," Harry countered, giving Voldemort a quick glance before turning back to the map they were both studying.

"If we enter here or here, we can access this area most quickly, which is also the most likely area that has been converted for what we faced while incarcerated," Voldemort murmured thoughtfully, as he pointed to the two spots on the map, both within the inner ward.

"Yeah, but it might be better to apparate into the outer ward, or in the shadow of Traitor's gate. If we do this right, we can pretend to be a group of lost tourists. In fact, if we all join a tour group we can stun the guide when we get close enough to the area we want to break into and use prepared portkeys to help get everyone out. They might not be able to apparate like we did when we escaped," Harry said thoughtfully, as he stood back up and gazed down at the map.

"I don't like it. Too many ways for us to be noticed, and if we go in as a tour group we would leave a very noticeable record, not to mention the fact that we would need a certain amount of identification," Voldemort grumbled as he sat back in his chair, continuing to study the map as well.

"If we want to get them out faster, before ours get hurt even more, then we need to move quickly," Harry said reasonably, then shrugged in apparent carelessness as he tossed his next words toward his counter-part in an offhand manner. "Besides, you can leave a big message on the wall saying something like _you take our people, we'll take them back, keep taking our people and we'll start killing yours_ , or something like that. It will make it very clear that we didn't start this but we'll bloody well finish it."

"Very well. We'll apparate here and move into these tunnels, looking for our people and anyone else we have to rescue," Voldemort said, as he folded up the map, giving Harry a piercing look. "I suggest that you carry both wands. I can see no reason why the Elder Wand wouldn't work as a serviceable back up wand for you."

"I'll try casting something with it first," Harry said decidedly, after a moment of thoughtful silence, earning a short nod of approval from his counter-part. "There's still a chance that it won't work for me at all, or works but not in the right way, and if that happens it might be better to just use my holly wand."

"Make certain to dress in something that you can move in and gives some protection, no matter how little or great that protection might be," Voldemort instructed as he stood up to get everyone organized, silently thankful that Narcissa had taken it upon herself to make sure everyone had a few changes of clothes each. She had also made certain that everyone had either a shirt or cloak that was spell resistant to give them _some_ protection in a duel. 

Voldemort mentally vowed that, as soon as they had another lull in activity, he was going to drag Harry to get proper dueling robes - even if he had to knock the brat out and carry him to do it! He would much prefer to have dragon hide or, better yet, basilisk hide protecting his little lion than the measly unenchanted linen and cotton that Harry had a habit of wearing. Even if jeans were slightly better than most other unenchanted fabrics, aside from leather and silk in the defensive department, for its natural strength, resistance to magic, and its durability, magical fabrics were a completely different matter with its own pros and cons. 

The yell of shock that Harry gave off a moment later, had Voldemort realizing several things at once, as he bolted toward the sound. One, Harry had already left to get ready. Two, something was wrong and Harry was either involved or near whatever it was. Three, he had become appallingly protective of his counter-part and he didn't care that it was ruining both his position and image. Four, he needed to keep a better eye on his green-eyed brat.

Voldemort bounced himself off of the wall with a sharp kick, just outside the room he had heard Harry's yell come from. He ran into the room at speed, wand drawn and ready to cast. His eyes took in the scene at a glance, the Elder Wand was in Harry's hand and glowing like a small sun. Harry's holly wand was nearby and glowing just as brightly, as it levitated itself toward Harry and the other wand. The Dark Lord watched in dumbfounded astonishment as the wand tips met and the wands merged, twisting about each other even as they jerked themselves out of Harry's hand. The process twined the wands together in a braid like fashion, smoothing away most of the berry-like carvings on the elder wand and also spinning the wand cores together. 

When the light faded, Harry was holding a wand of wood twisted and shaped together into a single smooth spiral of approximately thirteen inches. The handle was pure elder wood with a single inlaid vein of the darker holly wood spiraling around the handle before it got to the carved cross hilt, creating a slightly raised portion of wood to better grip the wand with. The cross hilt of the handle mimicked a small, shallow bowl with the wand length growing from its center, causing it to look rather like a rapier with a reversed cross hilt. The main body of the wand showed a spiral of inlaid wood evenly split between the holly and the elder wood, rather like a candy cane. There was a single elder berry carved into the back end of the grip; a small reminder of where half of the wand originated from.

All in all, the transformation was startling enough that neither noticed a chip of elder wood and a fragment of thestral hair adding itself to the bottom of Voldemort's yew wand, slipping the hair into the hilt as the chip of elder wood slid itself into place on the butt of the wand, where a jewel would go on the base of the wand's hilt if it had been a dagger, sword, or knife.

"Well, it looks as if you don't get a choice, or a back up wand for that matter," Voldemort said slowly, wondering just what his little lion had gotten into when he accepted the stone from his old Gaunt family ring. Harry muttered something darkly and sighed. A moment later, Ron and Hermione entered the room crashing into Voldemort's back, sending all three of them to the floor. Snape was just behind them, who just managed to stop before becoming a part of the pile of limbs.

"I take it that there is no longer any need of us?" Snape asked dryly, as he quickly glanced around the room, seeing nothing wrong and no change other than Harry holding a different wand. He did his absolute best to ignore the pile of struggling limbs at his feet that contained his master, addressing his question to Harry, who nodded absently as his own green eyes watched the pile of limbs with interest and amusement.

"Then I would thank you not to disturb my preparations for a raid. My choice of potions could very well save your life," Snape pointed out snootily before he turned around and swept out of the room, robes billowing dramatically.

Snape stalked down the hallway, miffed that he had been drawn away from deciding which potions he would need on their raid over something that could have been explained later. He was unwilling to admit to himself his own disappointment at being too late to watch such ancient magics in action, the signature of which he had recognized the moment he had arrived at the room. The man never noticed Lucius slipping up behind him from down the hallway. 

What he did notice was Draco's eyes widening a fraction when he came around the corner in front of the dour man and saw his father practically lurking in the potions master's shadow. A glance over his shoulder had him sighing at his friend's poor attempt to stalk him, but the look of satisfaction on the blond's face had him turning to face the pureblood warily. Even the arrival of the Weasley twins next to Draco didn't draw his attention away from his old friend, nor did the fact of Hermione passing him and pausing to join the other youngsters in watching the possible confrontation. 

Hermione had closed the door to the room behind her, leaving Ron to try and untangle himself from the Dark Lord, whose pride they had just irreparably damaged. Harry simply sat back, practicing simple spells with his new wand, as he watched the two wizards try to get up. They were constantly tripping the other up in their attempts, only causing them both to clumsily hit the floor again and again. Harry was beginning to have a hard time holding back his laughter, which would only wound Voldemort's pride even more.

"Severus," Lucius purred as he stalked up to the black clad figure, his movements cat like as he practically poured ethereal allure toward the wary man.

"Yes, Lucius? What is it?" Severus asked, hiding the beginnings of his panic behind a facade of blank indifference as he stiffly stood his ground.

"Now that the light and the dark are working together, I can do this," Lucius told him, a predatory smile making his friend tense as if getting ready to fight or flee. "I, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, Lord of the House of Malfoy, invoke Blood Kin Rite with you, Severus Tobias Snape, Lord of the House of Prince."

The sprung verbal trap and the power of the old ritual words, had Snape standing there in dumbfounded shock as the three purebloods, two redheads and one blond, sucked in sharp gasps behind him. Lucius took the chance to gently press Snape against the nearest wall and kiss him deeply, claiming his mouth as thoroughly as the blond planned to claim his body.

"Yes! I finally get a brother or sister!" Draco practically shouted in glee, nearly giddy enough to jump up and down like a small child.

"I don't understand. What just happened? I presume it's some sort of old magic or pureblood custom," Hermione asked in bewilderment, even as her eyes lingered on Draco's ecstatic features, not realizing that the twins immediately noticed the direction of her gaze.

"Uncle Sev doesn't have any children," Draco explained excitedly, his eyes catching on the honey brown of Hermione's, trapping him in her gaze as he absently continued his explanation. "What father has done is invoke a rite in which a Lord or Lady who has no heir is helped by a couple, usually family friends, to keep the bloodline alive. Basically, Mother and Father are going to help Uncle Sev have an heir, and if he doesn't want to raise them then he doesn't have to because Mother and Father offered to help with all of it by invoking the rite."

"No matter what you thought, Severus, you didn't escape," Lucius said drawing back away from the completely stunned Potions Master, as Narcissa came up behind her husband, amusement and pleasure clear on her face.

"Has he tried to get out of it yet?" She asked, laughter practically saturating her tone and snapping the dour man out of his stupor straight into a scowl aimed at his two long time friends.

"I hardly think that this is necessary..." Snape began, only to be cut off by his friend.

"Oh, I believe that it is. I couldn't, of course, risk invoking the rite and thus put my family in danger while we were working on opposite sides after all," Lucius informed him with a slightly melancholy smile, instantly silencing his dour friend. "Yes, we knew you were working for the old goat and I covered for you more than once."

"It wasn't by choice," Snape muttered, his gaze dropping toward the floor as he looked away from the two people who had trusted him enough to make him their child's godfather.

"We realize that and we appreciate how you've tried to protect Draco," Lucius said softly, as both Malfoys ignored the younger generation and pulled their friend into a joint hug, offering what comfort they could. 

"Don't think you're getting away this time, either," Narcissa said pointedly, as her nails lengthened marginally, biting into Snape's arm through his clothes and Lucius' pupils elongated into slits.

"I can't be your second mate," Snape protested weakly, his words tired like he was rehashing an old argument that he continued to support out of habit rather than conviction. He tried to ignore the soft satisfied purrs that were coming from the Malfoy couple as they cuddled him close between them. 

"There's also the fact that Father is part Veela, and so is Mother," Draco explained to Hermione softly, noting the creature features manifesting on his parents and trying to decide if he should lead the three Gryffindors away. "Father is actually a Light Veela, while Mother is a Dark Veela. Depending on how powerful the Veela is, they have one or more mates. In very rare cases, they have up to five or six, but those usually involve twins of some kind. We should go before they notice us. I'm safe since I'm their son but if they think that one of you is going to try and claim Uncle Sev when they're finally managing to start issuing their own claim after trying for so long, you might not survive." 

The three Gryffindors fervently agreed with the idea and followed Draco away into another part of the house. Draco would later find a note in his pocket from the twins, offering to help him get Hermione as his girlfriend and possibly even his future wife. With a smirk toward the avidly attentive twins, he fingered the note and nodded decisively, earning grins from the redheaded imps before they were all once more swept up into the preparations for the raid. 

At the same time, McGonagall had managed to catch Voldemort before they left on the raid, no one having remembered to inform her of the reason for the sudden activity. She was still out of action because of her injuries sustained during her capture before they'd called the truce and escaped from the facility a few days prior. She proceeded to inform the Dark Lord that she needed to get back to Hogwarts and asked that the Carrows be instructed to stop torturing students if she must live with them being on her staff. Voldemort looked at her blank faced before summoning a parchment and quill, writing out instructions to any Death Eaters at the school, magically sealing it as a standard precaution to avoid tampering before handing it to his old schoolmate.

"Since I cannot spare Severus to return to his duties as Headmaster, I am putting you in his place. I can't remember ever instructing them to actually torture the students, nor was I completely sane at the time. However, I thought that I had made it clear the children were to be protected," Voldemort informed her, doing his best to keep his face blank and his anger in check. "Since they have clearly failed at such a task, you are now the Headmistress and may choose your own deputy. Bear in mind that we may need to open Hogwarts as a refuge if these events continue."

"I understand. Do you mind terribly if the Carrows wind up in the hospital wing?" McGonagall asked with a twinkle of mischief in her eye, causing Voldemort to raise an eyebrow of his own, suddenly in a much better humor.

"Not at all. In fact, if you have a staff member or student who can actually cast the Cruciatus Curse, they have my full permission to do so on the Carrows for failing in their proper duties as teachers. If you can find someone suitable for the Defense position, feel free to inform the Carrows that they are to take half the class periods and stick with teaching Dark Arts. Also, have one or two of the seventh year muggleborns or half-bloods take over the Muggle Studies class, will you? I suspect that we're all going to need information as accurate and up to date as possible in that regard. In fact, make Muggle Studies mandatory for all students, have them focus on muggle history, science and basic belief systems, as well as war and weaponry. I want everyone behind Hogwarts' walls learning what they can about muggles, on top of the students' other lessons. " Voldemort instructed before pausing a moment in thought. "I also want you to send out letters to every student who didn't arrive or return. If we need to, we can send out escorts. I want the children safely ensconced at Hogwarts or in a heavily warded family manor, though I would prefer Hogwarts. Invite entire families to take refuge there, if you feel that it is necessary, and set out a charmed box in the Great Hall for people to donate funds to help with the strain it will put on Hogwarts' own school funds. Go now."

"Thank you," McGonagall said softly and left with the letter firmly clutched in her suddenly shaky hands, before quickly taking the Floo back to Hogwarts. 

It took another hour for everyone who was going, to be ready and gathered in the dining room as the only single room large enough in the house to hold them all, aside from the still dangerous cellar. Voldemort quietly had more than one of his more experienced people checking those of the younger generation who had managed to talk their way onto the raiding force, but he checked Harry himself. Harry had to be taught how to affect the wards, key someone in, and assign control to someone else but once Narcissa had been keyed in with basic control, he dropped the anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards so that they could apparate to the Tower of London.

The Death Eaters took point, being more used to conducting raids and maintaining a stealthy approach to whatever or whoever the target was. The two Lords of Magic had argued over their arrival time and finally settled on a compromise. They arrived at night just as the last tour of the day was wandering down the first part of the tour path, landing between the inner and outer wards of the old royal palace turned classic well-bred prison. Harry stumbled into his counter-part as he landed on the slightly uneven ground, earning a light red-eyed glare to which he responded with a sheepish grin.

"In and out with as many as possible," Voldemort reviewed quietly, as everyone gathered around them, double checking their gear mostly out of habit to make sure it survived the trip. "Use the portkeys and when you run out use side-along apparation. High priority targets are women and children of all species. If they can apparate on their own, get them to take someone with them and send them to Hogwarts. By now, Professor McGonagall will have something set up to receive them, or I will be killing the Carrows the next time I see them. Return to Grimmauld Place, if you find yourself facing more trouble than you can handle. Keep to the pre-assigned groups and listen to those who have more experience with the muggle world. We don't want to return just to pull you out if you get captured. And it would rather ruin our plans to destroy the complex on our way out." 

All of the Death Eaters chuckled quietly at his sarcastically delivered joke, delivered with such a deadly earnest warning. Everyone nodded and split into the pre-assigned groups, which held as much of an equal mix of light, dark, experience, and inexperience as possible. Harry and Voldemort had both tried to avoid an escort but no one was having that and before leaving Grimmauld Place they both had to endure a very polite explanation from Lucius Malfoy exactly why they had to have at least a four person escort for the both of them. A double set of eyes - one red, one green - had glared at the pureblood part Veela but he had stood his ground and won with just about everyone's enthusiastic support. As a result, Voldemort and Harry were stuck with a six person escort; four official Death Eater body guards - two Inner Circle and two Outer Circle - and two stubborn best friends who had, unlike the Weasley twins, escaped Molly's attempt to keep them at Grimmauld Place by the barest margin.

It didn't take much for the various groups to gain entrance to their assigned buildings and quickly search them, leaving the main building for last as the biggest and the one most likely to hold their targets. The entire operation went smoothly with everyone using various forms of magical concealment depending upon the individual's personal skills and if they could talk a group member to spell them rather than doing it themselves. The groups easily took down the guards and night personnel with a mix of quick spell work and martial arts, the younger members of the raiding party favoring something more hands on - not to mention quieter and less attention grabbing than shooting off brightly colored spells. 

As suspected, the holding cells were found in and under the main building holding the actual Tower of London, rather than the surrounding buildings. The first cells that Harry's group came across had several goblins in it with the lock well out of their reach and the thick bars made of a titanium steel mix that they couldn't break through with their tough natural magically enhanced nails. Harry took one look at the thick metal padlock securing their cell and his face twisted in disgust as he summoned Gryffindor's Sword, viciously chopping the padlock from where it was secured. The goblin silver infused with Basilisk venom from his second year and the remnants of the soul magics from the events of the last forty-eight hours easily sliced through the padlock... and the metal of the cage underneath it. The shocked look that Harry sported told the goblins clear as day that he hadn't actually thought it would cut through both the cage and padlock.

"Interesting," Voldemort muttered as he glanced over at the noise the sword had made when it sliced through the other metals.

"What have you done to it?!" One of the goblins demanded, trying to grab it away from the clearly incompetent wizard only to be stung by the magic of the blade, shocking all three of the goblins into silence.

"Um, it got soaked in Basilisk venom a few years ago and a couple days ago it merged with Slytherin's locket, which this Dark idiot had made into a Horcrux, when he took the soul piece back," Harry summarized uncertainly, absently returning the sword to its locket form to hang around his neck. He thought he recognized one of them as Griphook but he wasn't sure.

"Potter, just give them the portkey," Voldemort growled in warning, knowing that the goblins would probably demand the sword back as soon as possible. The goblins looked between them in a considering moment of silence before their spokesperson addressed them again.

"Please present yourselves at Gringotts within the next week to record the events concerning the goblin made sword crafted for Godric Gryffindor. In the mean time, we will permit the continued loan and you will each wear one of these rings. No one else is to use the sword except for the two of you," The goblin instructed, handing over two rings to Harry and Voldemort, one from his own finger and one that was handed to him by one of the other goblins. He didn't bother to explain further before they accepted the portkey and were whisked away by the magic. Voldemort and Harry each eyed their new ring curiously. They each held a simple goblin silver ring with the Gringott's coat of arms. Harry shrugged and Voldemort just raised an eyebrow, before they both slipped them on, not really certain what else to do with them.

The next couple of filled cells their group came across had an uneven mix of vampires, wizards, witches, and squibs with a few werewolves tossed in at random. Many of them simply apparated out to Hogwarts, as they were instructed, once they were freed of their magic inhibiting anklets but a few Vampires stuck around long enough to request a meeting later. Voldemort agreed for both of them, while Harry looked over a natural born werewolf child, who was around five years old, cooing every now and then making the little boy giggle. The Dark Lord's mind momentarily jumped to Harry cooing over one of his children rather than the little werewolf he was currently holding, before he ruthlessly forced his mind out of the spontaneous daydream and back to the situation at hand. Once Harry had sent the little boy to Hogwarts, they moved on.

They came to one of the smaller cells and its contents, as well as the state of said contents, shocked most of the group into near immobility. Harry was the first one to move, letting out a growl of disbelief, as he used his fury to help him physically break the lock with his bear hands and a surge of wild magic. He carefully picked up one of the wilted, nearly dead house elves and cradled it in his arms. The tears that fell from Harry's eyes landed on the elf's face causing the small creature to slowly open its own dull orbs even as its magic reached out in a feeble quest for both an anchor and information. 

When the elven magic touched Harry's, there was a surge of power that caused both of them to gasp and Harry to realize that whoever they had been bonded to must be dead, cutting them off from the magic they needed to survive. A moment later, the magic of the elf in his hands was strong enough to guide the equally feeble magic of three other elves to Harry's and three more bondings ensued, granting Harry a total of four new house elves into his service. Harry noticed one house elf, in the back of the cell. They had obviously come too late to save him, its body lay motionless, as the others started to stir. 

"Harry?" Voldemort asked cautiously, coming out of his stupor just as the magics finished binding the elves to his young counter-part. 

"I'm not sure, but I think I just bonded with them," Harry said hesitantly, as they all watched the rapid recovery of the four elves they had managed to save.

"Lovely," one of the two guarding Outer Circle Death Eaters muttered with a sneer. From the disgust in his voice, Harry figured that the man was one of those who saw the elves as little more than barely useful property. Harry had the spiteful thought that he likely mistreated any who were bonded to him on top of it all.

"Do you not find value in a house elf?" Voldemort asked in a softly dangerous tone. The man kept quiet but also wouldn't meet his lord's gaze. The Dark Lord let it drop for the moment as he switched his attention to Harry and the elves. "How are they? Can they move? Possibly help get everyone away?"

"I'm not sure. How about it, guys? Can you help everyone escape? Take them to Grimmauld place or Hogwarts?" Harry asked the closest elf, looking at him in concern.

"Yes, Master! Wes be helping everyones escape!" The elf said enthusiastically, before the four of them popped away and cells started emptying at a far more rapid rate. Voldemort noticed Harry sadly staring at the lifeless form in the back of the cell, and slowly waved his wand, causing the body to vanish.

"What did you do?" Harry asked, as he watched the body disappear. The sight of it had painfully reminded him of Dobby, who had died for him less than a week ago.

"I sent it to Grimmauld Place," the Dark Lord answered softly. If he knew Harry, which he did, the Light Lord would want to give the elf a proper send off. It reminded Voldemort just what kind of person Harry was, to mourn a simple creature that he'd never met, a creature that most would have just left behind. 

Harry nodded, hastily wiping his eyes, as they left the cell and moved on to the next one. A sandy haired, shaggy headed prisoner in the next cell, that had been staring at them in disbelief, finally croaked out a name in thinly veiled hope.

"Harry?" Remus asked hoarsely, drawing Harry's attention as his head whipped around to look at him, recognizing his voice.

"Moony?!" Harry asked in distress, as he scrambled over and frantically opened the cell that his unofficial godfather had been stuck in. 

As Remus moved toward Harry and the now open door to the cell, the young Light Lord saw someone behind the old wolf. Her hair was slowly shifting from a mousey brown to a cheerful bright pink as she stared at their rescuers. The baby in her arms changing his hair much faster in a mirror of his mother's change and giggling in delight at the new color to play with.

"Tonks? And is that a _baby_!?" Harry practically squeaked as he stared in wonder past the werewolf's shoulder at the child nestled contentedly in Nymphadora's arms.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you, I married Nymphadora and she was pregnant, which is why Dora didn't take the potion nor change to mimic you when we picked you up from the Dursleys," Remus rasped as he pulled his cub into his arms. He purposefully blocked the way so that the rest of the party couldn't get to his family, after Hermione had slipped past him to check on them, knowing she was no threat to his wife and child. As he took a deep breath of his cub's scent, something different about it registered, causing him to stiffen in shocked recognition as his inner wolf whimpered in submission.

"Remus? What's wrong?" Harry asked in concern, feeling the man stiffen under his hug.

"Cub? What did you do?" Remus asked carefully as he took a deeper breath, trying to pinpoint what had changed.

"He accepted his place as the Light Lord and abandoned the fool quest that would have ended in his death that the old goat sent him on," Voldemort sneered, doing his best not to rip _his_ brat away from the werewolf. 

Remus' head came up and recognition along with fear flickered through his eyes, as they gained a golden tint and a growl rose in his throat the same moment he shoved Harry behind him. The instant he reached out to protect Harry, Voldemort's wand was aimed at the Marauder, and Snape snorted in derision for all that he didn't make a move to interfere, _knowing_ that the wolf wouldn't harm the young man he saw as his cub. The two older wizards stared at each other, gazes locked in contest, while Harry looked between them, baffled at their reactions. The two women cooed over the baby, ignoring the pissing contest. Hermione had already quietly assured Nymphadora, who was still in shock at hearing that Harry was the new Light Lord, that nothing was wrong and that there was a truce in place between the light and the dark.

"You will _not_ harm my cub!" Remus growled, his eyes glowing golden as his canines elongated into fangs, his finger nails becoming more claw-like.

"Remus! It's fine. We're working together now. He's not trying to kill me and we're all trying to fix this!" Harry told the half transformed werewolf soothingly, coming to stand beside Remus instead of behind him.

"Calm yourself, wolf. I would not put _my_ counter-part in danger without a very good reason," Voldemort sneered, as Moony's eyes widened at the double meaning he could hear in the man's words.

"My _cub_ , my _Alpha_!" Moony growled out with a snarl.

"My _soul_!" Voldemort snapped back as he lowered his wand, his irritation reaching to phenomenal levels as the wolf in front of him stilled, recognizing the truth of the words and knowing their significance. Lucius drew in a sharp breath and Snape made a small choking sound where as Ron's bitter mutter showed that he thought the man was speaking of the Horcrux in Harry's scar. The older wizards knew better, one through scent, the other two through Voldemort's actions. 

"Can we argue later?" Harry asked in annoyance, breaking the suddenly frozen tableau and completely oblivious to the declaration that Voldemort had just made, also thinking that the man was referring to his scar and thus the Horcrux.

That's when they heard the alarm go off. Hermione and Harry jumped into action, shoving their last rescue portkeys into Remus and Tonks' hands, triggering them with a sharp command and sending the Lupin family on their way. They ran out of the cell and made a mad dash for the exit. They'd arrived in a large inner hall, just as a large number of pops occurred and they were surrounded by a combined group of wizards and muggles, all aiming for them with wands and guns. Their own wands were up in an instant as the groups attacked each other. Harry automatically started casting shield spells, disarming spells, and spells that he figured would slow the speed of the bullets. Hermione and Ron automatically formed up on Harry's flanks as Lucius and Severus formed up to either side of Voldemort. 

In the ensuing firefight, Hermione and Ron were drawn away from Harry's sides to deal with various attempts against the group, with Snape and Hermione dealing mostly with the muggle attackers. This left the young king lion under the primary protection of the two outer circle Death Eaters who didn't approve of how much power Harry had gained over their Lord, nor think him worthy to be Voldemort's soulmate. As a result, they held back as they cast, leaving openings in their protective spellfire. In their foolish attempt to get rid of Harry, they'd left their Lord's back wide open.

Only Harry saw the spell rushing toward Voldemort through the weakened protective web, as he threw himself between the Dark Lord and the threat to his life. As he moved to bodily block the incoming whip of fire, he felt something small enter his right side and hit one of his ribs, shattering the bone. The pain seemed to ricochet around inside his body, leaving what he assumed were bone and bullet fragments where they ought not to be. The main bullet wound ripped through a lung, filling it with blood, while a splinter of the hot metal lodged itself in his liver. A bone fragment even lodged into the outer lining of Harry's heart, while another sliver of the bullet ripped into his stomach. 

As he took the bullet wound, the young lion was still moving, until a moment later, the magical whip of acid green fire slammed into his chest on its way toward Voldemort's back. With a cry of pain, drawing his group's attention, he dropped toward the ground, quickly losing consciousness. Snape managed to catch him, keeping his head from slamming into the cement beneath their feet. Voldemort saw Harry fall and froze momentarily. Then all he saw was red, as his magic exploded. He automatically shielded his group, as their opponents became wreathed in flames, smoke, and raw magic. 

Snape ignored the Dark Lord's reaction in progress, as he quickly examined the young man in his arms. The blood from the bullet wound began to soak his robes, even as he noted that the magical fire seemed to have cauterized most of its own wound. Even so, it still oozed blood and, to Snape's horror, what looked to be an acid green poison. Frantically, he spelled blood replenishers and something to slow the bleeding into the brat's stomach, chanting under his breath to keep his patient from going into shock, trusting Lucius and his lord to keep them safe while he worked.

When he saw his younger brother fall, Ron had turned bone white in rage and joined Voldemort's assault on their attackers, shifting from the lighter magics to the darker emotion fueled spells that his twin brothers had taught him. The redhead's raw magic literally ripped apart two opposing wizards, while his dark cutting curse gutted a third. At the same time, Voldemort's magic seemed to be turning some of their attackers inside out and burning others alive. Hermione had immediately gone down next to Harry and yanked up the tattered remains of her brother's shirt so that her former Professor could get a decent look at the wounds. Snape's hasty diagnostic spell revealed a large amount of internal bleeding, which included Harry's stomach. Thankfully, one of the potions he'd given the boy would start to repair it or at least slow the bleeding enough to allow the other potions to work.

Hermione tossed a previously prepared potions vial to the ground, so that the monitoring bracelets on everyone's wrists went off, signaling the emergency retreat. After violently killing their attackers, and making the two outer circle Death Eaters sick to their stomachs, Voldemort and Ron turned to look at Harry hanging limply in Snape's arms as the man continued to spell potions into his stomach. 

"Severus?" Voldemort asked uncertainly, his rage calming, as he watched the green-eyed brat worriedly. He'd tired himself from expending so much magic at once in his blinding rage. Ron moved from checking the now very dead group of attackers to stand next to the Dark Lord and watch as both Snape and Hermione tended to the young wizard.

"We have to go, I believe that he's stable enough for magical transport but it would be best if we used muggle transportation as much as possible," Snape explained, as Hermione helped him simply remove the remains of Harry's shirt. He tried not to think about the many old scars he was observing on his patient's body and silently vowed that if he found who had put them on the young man, he would do his absolute best to make certain they sported similar souvenirs.

"I read about something that might help. If he trusts someone enough or their magic is similar enough the person can wrap their magic around him and protect him through the magical transport," Hermione suggested, thinking furiously as she tried to find a way to help her friend, mentally scrambling through all of the books she had ever read and the contents of her ever present beaded bag. 

"We can test it while we move. If his magic rejects the magic of whoever is carrying him, then they can't be the one to carry him through the apparation or portkey," Ron said decidedly, as his strategic mind worked through the problem, knowing more about what Hermione suggested than she did because of his pureblood background. "Whoever is going to carry Harry has to avoid casting spells and just carry him, wrapping him in their magic. If his magic fights at all while he's in a crisis state, then you can't afford to be the one to help him through the magical transport, not with how badly he's hurt any way. Mine won't work, I'm too jealous of him too often. 'Mione's might work but I'm not sure. I don't think he trusts any of you enough to make this work."

"Then it doesn't matter who carries him. Give him to me," Voldemort demanded, holding out his arms to take his wounded lion from the two currently tending to him. As the younger wizard settled into the Dark Lord's arms bridle style, Harry coughed and spit up some blood. Voldemort grimaced in an unfamiliar amount of sympathy, as the man's magic wrapped around the injured wizard comfortably. The two magics interwove and supported Harry's bodily functions, dramatically increasing his chances of survival. 

They headed for the nearest exit, warily watching for another ambush only to stop just outside the obviously public entryway as Voldemort paused, thinking furiously about why they were there. Carefully, he shifted Harry to his left arm, momentarily cradling the smaller wizard in one arm like a baby as he cast a spell at the wall beside the doors. The spell summoned the blood of the fallen muggles and splashed a message onto the cold stone wall: **Once, you burned our people at the stake. Now you steal them away to kill and experiment on. We did not start this but if necessary, we _will_ finish it!**

Voldemort turned away from his work and gently resettled his counter-part in his arms, preparing to move quickly across the open expanse and out one of the gates into muggle London. It was not to be. A single gunshot rang out, the sound bringing Harry around as the bullet clipped Voldemort just behind his ear, causing an instant concussion. The Dark Lord dropped to his knees and _knew_ by the feel of his injury and the dizziness that suddenly assaulted him that apparation was out of the question along with portkey travel. With a sub-vocal growl, he hunched down over the blearily awake Harry, trying to protect him as shouts and more gun shots rang out alongside the more noticeable though no less deadly spellfire from a new group of magical attackers.

With a sneer, Snape summoned the robes of one of the cowards, with the wizard still in them. The summoned wizard was forced to pass one of his fellows and body slammed his comrade involuntarily. Consequentially, Snape finally got a good look at the uniform that the magic users were sporting. His shock at recognizing the uniform of those who followed _Gellert Grindelwald_ caused his reactions to slip, allowing a cutting curse through powerful enough to take him to his knees, arm bleeding heavily. The Potions Master landed against both Lords of Magic, jolting them in the process. Harry, panicked by the pain and the continuing spellfire, grabbed the two people physically closest to him before apparating away, aware that everyone in their group was carrying personal emergency portkeys and were able to escape once he got his injured arse off the battle field.


	8. Home Sweet Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The extent of Harry's injuries is discovered and the Dark Lord is faced with meeting his counterpart's "family".

Gellert Grindelwald was not a happy man. His faithful followers had the devil of a time getting him out of Nurmengard after his lover, Albus Dumbledore, had beaten him in a duel. Eventually, one of them had volunteered to take his place and they used a _house elf_ of all things to get him past his own prison wards. If one of his followers had not been there on one of the rare visits he was allowed when he had finally heard the news about poor Albus, there was a very good chance that he would have followed his former lover within the month. 

As it was, they had decided to use one of, what they thought was the riskier plans to help him escape, and it had worked! The first month or two after Albus' death and his escape had seen his closest followers hovering like concerned mother-hens. Gellert had to admit, even if only to himself, that their hovering had been necessary and not simply because of the effects of his incarceration either. One or two of them had even gotten the old man to talk to them and every last one of them had expected to be killed afterwards. 

Gellert hadn't killed them yet, but he had made certain that they couldn't tell his secrets without his explicit permission and that a simple little spell was all he needed to utter to kill them. Designing the powerful blasting curse into a runic design that he had personally tattooed over their hearts or at the back of their skulls had been rather fun, if a touch time consuming. After all, every unbreakable vow was recorded somewhere and he had yet to discover where that information was actually stored. Until he knew, he wasn't going to use the damn things for something as important as securing his deepest secrets.

It had been a stroke of luck that had a squib relative placed high in the British muggle government visiting one of his staunchest followers while he was recovering under the man's roof posing as a visiting distant relative fallen ill. The squib had nearly had his head taken off, literally, when he entered the room where Grindelwald was resting unannounced, dropping his government ID in the process. Grindelwald had, upon seeing the ID, found his mind running through possibilities that hadn't occurred to him since he had worked with Adolf Hitler before Albus had decided to duel him for the elder wand.

That duel had been amazing and pushed both of them to their limits. Beyond them, really. Gellert couldn't stop admiring his lover's skill, strength, and poise during that entire duel. The worst part? It hadn't been Albus that had defeated him. Hell, it hadn't even been a spell! He slipped on a patch of wet stone buried in the dirt and went down hard, his head hitting another stone, knocking him out. Apparently his followers said that Dumbledore's wand was pointed toward his his lower legs at the time and some idiot lower level German Ministry employee had stumbled upon the scene. 

Grindelwald wasn't quite sure why Albus had gone along with it. Sure his lover had been getting more and more uncomfortable with some of his methods, and absolutely detested what Hitler was doing as his ally, but surely that hadn't been enough to turn him away? Perhaps it was enough, Gellert wasn't quite sure. He had promised Albus control of the schools on the condition that any who wished to learn Dark Arts would attend special classes taught by some of Gellert's most loyal. 

The sound of the door opening behind him brought the former aspiring Dark Lord from his reverie as he turned from the spectacular view of the Dover cliffs to face his visitor.

"Herr Lord Grindelwald," The brown haired, brown eyed thin man of middling height greeted him respectfully, using his home country's term for 'Mister.' Grindelwald inclined his head in greeting.

"Herr Moore, you have news?" Grindelwald's soft barely accented speech was soothing to the squib as he nodded agreement.

"Yes, one of our spies has reported something rather unusual. Apparently she was picked up by one of the detainment squads by mistake and was rescued by Voldemort and Mr. Potter, working together as they escaped their own containment. Within the next few days, she was unable to get on one of the teams regularly venturing out of the safe house to retrieve supplies and report to us. Nor was she sent out as part of the search for more of our bases, but that wasn't such a bad thing since it also meant that she was present when something rather interesting happened. Apparently Mr. Potter was gifted a special stone upon Mr. Dumbledore's death and only recently managed to open the container. Our spy reports that when he finally did open it and the stone touched his hand, an invisibility cloak and a wand flew to him from various locations and a person claiming to be _Death_ , of all things, appeared," Mr. Moore reported, slightly nervous as to how the Great Gellert Grindelwald would take such a preposterous claim.

"Interesting. Was there anything else in the report?" Grindelwald asked softly, his eyes glittering in excitement.

"Yes. Apparently after reporting the first part, our spy had to threaten her contact to make certain that the information was delivered, rather than taking her to be evaluated. She also reports that the wand has apparently fused with Mr. Potter's original wand and that Voldemort has made it rather clear to most of those at the safe house that he plans to marry Mr. Potter at some point. As yet, Potter seems to be unaware of his intentions," Moore reported, relieved that he hadn't been either laughed out of the room or cursed.

"We need to acquire both Potter and Voldemort more than ever, it appears. Instead of merely capturing them if the opportunity arises, I want you to make finding them and their capture a priority. Lets see if we can't find out more from, as you say, the horse's mouth?" Grindelwald suggested almost gently. Moore bowed slightly to the other man and quietly left the room, wondering just where their targets were and what the hell was so interesting about those artifacts...

==

The current owner of said artifacts had instinctively aimed his emergency apparation to the only place he knew had strong enough wards to keep Voldemort at bay, aside from Hogwarts, which itself had anti-apparation wards. With the amount of blood he had lost, he couldn't remember Twelve Grimmauld Place as a safe location, or the fact that the wards had fallen on his seventeenth birthday, nor could he control the apparation properly. They arrived in Little Whinging, Surrey just in front of Number Four Privet Drive slightly above the ground but miraculously unsplinched, landing just a bit hard on the ground together in a pile of limbs and dark clothes.

"Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Someone called out angrily from the general direction of Number Four.

"It's me, Diggle, you dolt! Severus Snape! I've got a badly injured Potter and we need to get undercover, quickly!" Snape snarled out, recognizing where they were and dragging his reluctant body into a standing position. Using Harry's name and conveniently forgetting to mention the Dark Lord still hunched over the green-eyed menace, just in case the order members who shouldn't even be there were unaware of the turn the war had taken.

"Potter? Injured?!" Diggle asked in alarm, as he hurried out of his poor concealment in the bushes and hustled the three new arrivals into the house. By the time they got Harry into the house, all three of them were covered in blood. Snape was cursing under his breath about reopened wounds and stubborn lions who wouldn't stay _still_ when injured. Dudley looked up from his TV show and, seeing the blood and the look that the Dark Lord sent him, he scrambled from the couch, clearing a place for them to lay Harry down and work on the younger man's injuries.

Voldemort ignored his old friend's muttering and focused on helping to get Harry's wounds to close enough that the bleeding would at least slow down again. He was pulled away from the young wizard by the man, Diggle, who had challenged them when they arrived and manhandled into a chair, while the wizard tried to check the wound behind the Dark Lord's ear. The ruby-eyed wizard was too concerned about his counter-part to stay put and eventually managed to shove Diggle away before returning to Harry's side. He ignored Dudley standing off to the side, nervously shifting from foot to foot and the exasperated look that Snape gave him before the dour man returned to his work.

"Where are the rest of Potter's relatives? And why the devil aren't you all at the blasted safe house?!" Snape demanded his frustration clear in his voice, as he cast diagnostic spell after diagnostic spell at his patient. "No, don't answer, just... go to headquarters, ignore the dark supporters and bring Narcissa Malfoy here. Tell her that I need her and her healers kit or Potter will die and we'll need yet _another_ new Light Lord."

Diggle swore and ran out the front door, apparating away before he was even properly clear of the building. The loud crack of the man's departure attracted the attention of the elder Dursleys, who had both been upstairs when they arrived. They had put the earlier noise down to Dudley watching the television. Petunia Dursley nee Evans was shocked when she poked her head down stairs to find her long hated nephew laid out on the couch getting blood _everywhere_. Yet the old anger didn't quite surge back to the forefront, until she laid eyes on the darkly clad man tending to him, never seeing the red-eyed man at his side while her son hovered near the wall, trying to stay out of the way.

"Snape!" Petunia's hissed fury caused the man to snap his head up and look at her, his eyes glittering darkly as he quickly dismissed her and returned to his task, chanting the latest healing spell. She stalked down the stairs, fury evident in every line of her body before coming up short as Voldemort smoothly stepped into her path.

"Madam, please do not interfere," Voldemort asked softly but sternly, his eyes briefly flicking up to take in her presence before they returned worriedly to the downed green-eyed warrior still bleeding into the fabric and cushions of the couch.

"Mum, it's Harry. At least let them make sure he won't die. You can always yell at them later," Dudley pleaded, having gotten a good look at his cousin and the state he was in. She stared at her son before nodding sharply, turning toward the kitchen to at least make something to drink.

"Pet? What was that sound?" Vernon called from his office upstairs.

"Just one of the freaks checking something!" She called back, hoping her husband wouldn't come downstairs and see their new visitors and the mess her nephew was making of the living room. She glanced at said mess distastefully but continued on her way into the kitchen.

"I'll go upstairs and stall Dad if he decides to come down here, but I want to know what happened," Dudley warned them quietly as he slipped up the staircase to watch for his father. The wizards ignored him. A moment later, another crack rang through the air outside, heralding the arrival of Narcissa with her desperately needed healers kit and second set of hands. 

Narcissa came through the front door, paused a moment to observe and quickly moved to the side of her second mate. A twitch of the witch's wand healed the deep cut on Snape's arm, as they conferred quietly before moving to either end of the couch that Harry was laid out on and started to chant. As the magic gathered, saturating the air, a transparent human form made of light and magic formed in the air above the young lion, mirroring his position and displaying his injuries perfectly. The holographic Harry hovering over the real one told the tale of exactly how much damage the young man had taken in those moments before his cry of pain, making both Potions Master and Healer blanche at the damage. Narcissa covered her mouth in horror, stifling a small sob. She had gotten to know the new Light Lord a little over the last week, and she knew he didn't deserve this kind of pain. He was only seventeen, an adult by wizarding law but still a child in her eyes, just like her Draco.

The bullet had entered the right side of his chest, traveling through his flesh to rip through a lung and then shatter against one of his anterior ribs, sending bone and bullet fragments scattering throughout his torso. In the end, Harry was found to have a bone fragment in the outer lining of his heart, a bullet fragment lodged in his liver, another bullet fragment tore a small hole in his stomach, and the main bullet wound left a heavily bleeding hole in his lung with a bone fragment lodged _inside_ the lung itself. A bone shard had even found its way down into his small intestine. There was a great deal of bleeding into Harry's chest cavity. That isn't to mention all the tissue damage; major and minor. The bone and bullet fragments had ripped muscles, organs and connective tissues apart like rice paper. The only good thing about all of the internal damage and the scattered bullet and bone fragments was that all of his major arteries were untouched, giving them half a chance of keeping him alive. The most hemorrhaging was coming from his lung and liver.

None of this even touched on the damage that the fire whip spell had done. They could see the burn on both his real chest and the hologram hovering above it. What sent a chill through the wizards and witch was the seeping sickly green magic leaking down from the burn mark to infuse the rest of the flesh they could see on the magical display. Narcissa quickly vanished the bone and bullet fragments from his body along with the blood pooling in his chest cavity, at the same time she cast a general healing spell focused on knitting the flesh back together.

"Poison!" Snape hissed, his tone a mixture of disgust, admiration, and fear that he wouldn't be able to counter it. He quickly spelled a general antidote into his patient's stomach, along side a bezoar and another blood replenisher. Snape decided that the shattered rib could wait until Harry was well enough to handle the added pain. As long as he didn't move around too much, the broken bone wouldn't cause any extra damage. They all watched as the poison slowed its progress but didn't stop, relieving them slightly at the thought that it could be fought. They were distracted from pondering the new information by the voices of the Dursley men at the top of the steps.

"Dad? I want to know what happened to Harry!" Dudley said firmly, deciding that he might as well try to get his answers from his father.

"Dudley, I've told you more than once, there is no good going to come from any _freaks living_, much less being allowed in society and I will not have one in this house, if I can help it! If I had my way, those two freaks supposedly guarding us would already be dead. You will not ask about the freak again," Vernon half explained, half ordered before moving onto the steps and stopping dead at the bloody sight laid out in front of him in his living room. The magic users watched as the man turned an impressive color of plum before he began to shout at them. "OUT! Get out! I will not have even more _freaks_ in my home! Not again! I want nothing to do with you... _creatures_! We dealt with the ungrateful brat's freakishness for far too long and I will _not_ have one of you putting my family in danger again! **_OUT!_** "

"Mr. Dursley, surely you can't be serious?" Diggle asked, stunned at the vitriol the man was spouting over an injured wizard and those healing him being in the same building.

"The only reason I didn't drown the brat when he first landed on our doorstep was because Petunia felt uncomfortable with letting me kill her nephew, no matter how tainted he was!" Vernon thundered, not seeing the increasingly dark looks he was getting from his unwelcome house guests. "We took that _creature_ in out of the goodness of our hearts, fed him, clothed him, and no matter what we did his freakishness remained! Not even the bloody priest was able to banish the infernal unnaturalness!"

"Priest?" Voldemort asked ominously, his mind flashing back to the time the orphanage matron had subjected him to an exorcism on Christmas, barely days before his seventh birthday.

"If they took him to a priest, I never saw it in his memories when I tried to teach him Occlumency," Snape quickly offered trying to prevent the rage his friend was barely containing from exploding into deadly consequences.

"Why would he? Dudley was barely three when Vernon decided that the brat needed to be exorcized. When he got older, we tried other methods but it was never enough," Petunia said from the short hallway to the kitchen that she had come from to see what the racket was. "More than once unnatural things happened. He even set a snake on my Dudders!"

"No, actually he didn't. It's called accidental magic, for a reason. As you well know, Petunia Dursley," A gaunt Caucasian man in a black suit and holding a cane informed them idly from near the front door, almost immediately finding himself at wand point.

"Who are you?" Voldemort demanded harshly, eyes blazing in barely contained fury and protectiveness, ready to curse the first person who posed a possible threat to _his_ injured green-eyed beauty after what he had just heard.

"Don't you like my new look?" Mort asked almost plainly, completely unfazed by the wands aimed his way. "I crafted it to make it more comfortable for us all to talk. The skeleton look was more for tradition's sake, in any case."

The wands of everyone except Diggle slowly lowered, as Narcissa and Severus turned their attention once more to their patient. When the two of them looked at the hologram, they noted that the poison was still creeping its way into the surrounding tissue, and started casting diagnostic spells while observing the display, trying to identify exactly which poison they were dealing with.

"You won't stop it that way," Mort said almost idly. "He would already be dead if he didn't have Basilisk Venom and Phoenix Tears in his blood, and if he weren't the master of the Hallows it would all be moving much faster. He would actually have died a while ago, rather than simply fall into an eternal coma. As it is, the poison really only has him paralyzed and in rather a lot of pain. He is currently still aware of everything going on around him, or at least what he can grasp through the pain. If you don't get a move on, I may actually need to make him a new body, if he ever decides to properly wake. The damage is already fairly extensive."

Diggle gasped, choking on his sharp breath, while Snape quickly spelled two more general antidotes into Harry's stomach to try and slow the poison down even further. Voldemort, on the other hand, decided to try something a bit more unusual. Remembering the mental aspect of the bond he shared with his counter-part, he hoped he could use it to wake Harry up, to see those beautiful emerald gems again. As he opened the link as wide as it would go, he immediately collapsed, nearly blacking out from the excruciating pain and the horrid screams he could hear coming from Harry's mind.

"Knock him out!" Voldemort rasped out his order, as Diggle tried to help him back up while keeping Death at wand point, still unaware of who either of them were. Snape immediately spelled a strong sleeping potion into Harry, and the echoing pain in their link faded to something closer to a bad headache rather than the all consuming blaze of pain it had been.

"Thank you," Narcissa told the immortal being quietly, as Voldemort straightened into a standing position with a grimace and a rub to his temple, trying to ease the painful headache that wasn't actually his. Mort simply shrugged, not really wanting to get into the fact that he found what they were doing entertaining, nor did he really want to explain what it would take to give Harry a new body. He also doubted the Dark Lord would be pleased with the requirements. He already knew that Harry would throw a major fit over what it would take to give him a new body.

" _ **OUT!**_ " Vernon thundered again, before stalking over and trying to pick up Harry to physically throw him out of the house. He found himself quickly at wand point of two very angry Dark supporters and one furious Dark Lord.

"Touch him and you will die in agony!" Snape snarled at the walrus in a deadly tone, his obsidian eyes sparkling with malice and deadly intent, forming a death glare more visually lethal than usual. Vernon sputtered angrily but didn't reach for his nephew again, just barely keeping himself from backing away at the threat of magic.

"I wish they really would wipe your kind from the face of the earth," Vernon said balefully, his hands twitching, wanting to use his belt on the upstart freak in front of him as he had used in the past on the brat. The memory of viciously beating Harry more than once with his belt played behind his eyes, as Snape silently skimmed his surface thoughts, causing the dour man's skin to go white in fury as his over sized nostrils flared.

"People like _you_ , your _wife_ , and my _father_ are the reason we've separated ourselves for centuries!" Snape hissed, unconsciously tipping Voldemort and Narcissa off to the fact that he either knew or believed that the fat muggle in front of him had purposefully harmed the young wizard who had been in his care for over a decade. Voldemort's low growl of fury on Harry's behalf was barely audible as the man's control was tested again that night. Then something occurred to him, causing the dreaded Dark Lord to turn and face the idly observing personification of Death and look at him oddly.

"Why haven't you healed him, if the damage is so extensive and so threatening?" Voldemort asked softly, observing Death's human form with interest.

"Many of the privileges and benefits for the one who attains mastery of the Hallows can not be granted until they die for the first time while holding the title. Until then, they are effectively on a probation period. I also get to veto power at that point. If I believe that they will misuse the power or fail to discharge the associated responsibilities, I simply collect them and send the Hallows on their way to someone else. The only benefit they get at that point is being allowed to say goodbye personally and my personal escort into the afterlife," Mort explained, amusement clear in his dark glittering eyes as a slight smile quirked his mouth. "An accepted candidate also gets the choice to reject the title and simply move on, or accept it and become immortal and my master forever. If you want him to survive his first death, I suggest giving him something to live for. He's already passed most of my tests and criteria for full acceptance of the title. I quite like Mr. Potter, I can admit I would be glad to have him as my master. He would do right by his power and title. If he accepts it, that is. He's already shown reluctance to keep the power, the very moment he obtained it. He doesn't think he's good enough for it. It frightens him, to have power over life and death. Also, the one thing he's ever really wished for is to be reunited with his family. If he becomes my master, that dream is off the table."

"Severus? Is the brat stable? Aside from the obvious effects of the poison?" Voldemort asked in a softly dangerous tone, his eyes glowing with turbulent emotion, as he turned his gaze to rest on the deathly pale and still Light Lord.

"Yes, my Lord," Severus answered, glaring balefully at Vernon, trying not to think about what death had just explained to them. Diggle, on the other hand, choked and paled as he finally realized that the Dark Lord was _in the room_ with them and had yet to try and kill anyone. "I would like a chance to give him more general antidotes and blood replenishers before we attempt to leave but he is otherwise stable enough for transport."

"Then, perhaps, we should discuss exactly what you have done to my little lion?" Voldemort growled out, ignoring the looks he was suddenly getting from the other magic users and turned to Vernon. A moment later, the Dark Lord cast a strong " _Legilimens_ " on his first target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter might take a while to craft because I've been working so hard on this one to the point of general obsession. So I need a break to work on the other fics and I really want to have the time to work through the next chapter. Chibi? I blame you for the plot bunnies that have had me obsessed with DT!  
> ~Gen
> 
> Sorry! =D *Secretly is not sorry at all* -Chibi
> 
> Did anyone catch the reference to Death from Supernatural?


	9. Discovery and Retribution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dursleys get their comeuppance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has warnings for _Violence_ , _torture_ , and references to _past abuse/torture_. _**Read at OWN RISK**_  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vernon's mind was pathetically easy to break into and the first thing that Voldemort found was fear to the point of out right terror. The second thing was a flash of Petunia telling her then boyfriend about magic and what it could do. Then the man's mind shifted to a memory of baby Harry levitating a toy away from near his cousin who was eating while he was left on the floor without food and in ill-fitting, oversized clothing. The next one saw Vernon shoving the green-eyed baby into the cupboard, shifting to later with both adults yelling at him for making noise. 

Then a faster series of images where Harry was growing older and older, denied food, given rags to wear, denied love or consideration of any kind, forced to do a variety of tasks often far from age appropriate by the age of four. Voldemort watched with mounting fury as Harry was constantly taunted, bullied, beaten, ostracized, starved, tortured, and generally treated as less than even a slave for all that he was otherwise treated as one. By the time he reached age eight in the fat walrus' memories he had to pull back out or risk another explosive draining of his already exhausted magic as it lashed out to protect the young lion, or in this case kill one who had harmed his soulmate. There had been more than one memory of the man beating the young wizard for minor infractions and accidental magic as well as other injuries indicating that the overweight man was not the only one to harm his lion.

When he finally pulled out he was breathing hard and resisting the urge to curse the man or simply rip his mind apart on the way back out of the useless mush that the creature called a brain. Both Severus and Narcissa were greatly worried by the amount of rage that Voldemort was displaying as the red-eyed man pulled himself out of the fat muggle's mind. His fingers were bone white as they gripped his almost equally white wand. The red in his eyes taking on a murderous cast of near insanity. The two mates exchanged a glance heavy with unease and worry for not only their lord but the man's young mate as well.

"Severus, I need you to finish it. I can't continue without killing the _bastard_ and completely draining my core. I had to stop when Harry was just shy of eight. You will need to heavily Occlude your emotions while you review the rest of his memories if the ones I saw were anything to go by. I certainly required it," Voldemort informed them tightly, breathing hard from a combination of fury and exhaustion that alarmed his two friends even as the Dark Lord swayed on his feet. 

Narcissa and Snape barely caught him as he started tumbling toward the couch, instinctively trying to get to his soulmate in his weakened state as he once had done in Harry's first year for all that he thought he was after the philosopher's stone. Both of them quickly checked the exhausted Dark Lord, extending the couch out to lay him next to Harry as Diggle watched wide eyed and Vernon practically collapsed of an apoplexy induced by indignant rage. Dudley just looked sad and stayed at about half way up the stairs so that he was out of the way. Petunia sniffed and barely refrained from informing the strange red-eyed freak that all of his kind, especially her worthless nephew, deserved such treatment and more.

"Now see here, I want you all out of my house! I don't know what you all think you are doing but I won't stand for it!" Vernon fumed, unaware of what had actually happened even though he had seen the memories in his own mind. He was completely oblivious to the fact that they weren't as private and secure as he believed. 

Death still stood in the corner, watching the man's increasing pique with amusement and wondered idly if he should oblige the man trying so hard to get his attention and collect him? Then he looked over at Harry and his mate, the immortal's expression softening in fondness before gaining a hard glint as he looked back at the fat muggle. There would be no peace in death for Vernon Dursley once Death finally claimed him for his own. The man had harmed someone that the immortal was particularly fond of.

"Severus? Why don't we simply take the three of them with us? Our lord can mete out judgement at my family home," Narcissa suggested, realizing that the two soul mates were too exhausted and in too much danger health-wise to continue. She knew that if her second mate accepted her suggestion, they would likely have to deal with a furious Dark Lord when he woke up from his nap but the chance to move them fairly safely was almost too good to pass up.

"Alright, I can send Diggle to Hogwarts to help with the refugees we've sent there. If nothing else, Poppy can have him carry and fetch things while she treats the injured," Severus agreed softly before turning to Diggle and issuing his orders. "Diggle, find whoever you were paired with, then go to Hogwarts. Speak to Minerva and have her put you to work. I would rather you _didn't_ tell the interfering tabby what happened here but I suppose you'll need to tell her most of it any way. You may also inform her that we have taken Potter's relatives into custody for harming him."

Vernon spluttered in fury as Diggle nodded in solemn agreement and understanding before simply walking out the front door and apparating away, perfectly aware that the Dursleys would be no match for a determined Severus Snape. Petunia frowned, suspicious after having seen her sister use magic so many times over the years. From what she could tell, there was no reason for the red-eyed man who the nasty boy that corrupted Lily called a _Lord_ to be suddenly so exhausted and she had no idea what spell he had cast from the word he said so forcefully. 

Dudley observed from his position on the stairs and gained an almost resigned air. He had seen his cousin use accidental magic often enough and try to explain what had happened that he had a good idea from the conversation alone what the man had done. He _knew_ his father would rather Harry had died and had tried to destroy him, encouraging Dudley to attack the young wizard on more than one occasion. Petunia hadn't been much better when it came to how Harry had been treated, especially compared to how his parents treated Dudley himself. 

Ever since Harry had chased that soul destroying coldness off with the stag made of light, Dudley had been questioning their actions more and more. He fully believed that whatever the man decided to do to them wouldn't be enough to pay for what they had done to Harry. He may have had to keep pretending to hate his cousin because of his parents, but Dudley actually held some respect for his cousin and deeply regretted how Harry had been treated by the three of them.

Snape quickly bound and collected the Dursley family, while Narcissa diligently watched over their two patients. He was quite surprised when there was no objection from the smaller human whale. The two adults on the other hand protested, vehemently. Dudley's silent cooperation was a stark contrast to all the screeching, screaming, yelling, and general fuss the adults made at being the targets of _magic_ , to say nothing of the so called manhandling they were receiving.

This unexpected lack of resistance had Severus' eyebrows rising in surprise and he gentled his handling of the youngest Dursley before he levitated the three bound muggles outside. Narcissa followed, gently levitating their patients and patiently waiting as Snape made a portkey for each Dursley before sending them off. Neither of them wasted any time before gathering the two sleeping lords of magic in their arms and apparating away to Grimmauld place. Death looked around at the cookie cutter house that his master had slaved away to keep perfect before shaking his head in disgust and fading away. He knew that someone would probably burn it down in vengeance and couldn't think of a better fate for the small horror that had been Harry's prison for nearly seventeen years.

They arrived at Grimmauld place without further incident. Everyone's questions about the previously portkeyed muggles were immediately halted by the sight of both Voldemort and Harry being _carried_ into the house by the two medi-magic users. Lucius gave a low growl, scenting Snape's drying blood and seeing his lord out cold in his mate's arms, fighting with himself not to simply take the small group of four and seclude them while checking them for injuries. A snarl from the irate potions master got them through the gawkers to lay both lords on the bed in the room that Voldemort had claimed. A moment later Harry's magic flared, finally recognizing the poison and starting to fight it, much to the relief of both Severus and Narcissa.

"What happened?" Lucius asked softly as he closed the door to the room, having followed his mates and acting as the rear guard, blocked anyone else from doing the same.

"After our lord left his message and went down during the ambush, Potter must have been jostled or some such when I fell against them. The brat had the temerity to apparate the three of us out, despite his injuries. It was a miracle that none of us were splinched! Especially with all of the damage from both the bullet and the spell," Snape admitted, as he settled Voldemort under the covers after spelling him into night clothes, Narcissa doing the same for Harry. Both men watched quietly as Narcissa frowned at something and muttered a spell, solving their older patient's concussion, healing the scratch that the bullet had left behind and clearing the crusted blood from his hair. 

"Lucius, the menace took a bullet to the side as well as that blasted poisoned fire whip! I suspect that the only reason the Dark Lord was able to do what he did was that he was still running on adrenaline. I had completely forgotten that he even _was_ hit, we were having so much trouble stabilizing Harry and he certainly didn't act like he was injured once we had arrived..." Snape trailed off from his explanation, clearly upset at the sequence of events.

"Are they at least still alive?" Lucius demanded worriedly, earning a glowering look from his wife. The blond had the sudden feeling he might wind up looking for a new place to sleep that night.

"Of course they are!" Severus snapped at his long time friend, glowering and making his displeasure felt through the rough side of his tongue. "Our lord would even still be conscious if he hadn't raided the fat muggle's mind, trying to discover what damage they did the green-eyed menace over the years. Which reminds me, he asked me to continue his review of the walrus' memories concerning Potter just before he collapsed from what appeared to be magical exhaustion. Frankly, if it had been anyone but our lord, Potter, or Dumbledore who had pulled that kind of stunt I'd be surprised if they survived. As it is, the Dark Lord clearly has a sufficiently large core but we'll need to restrict his magic use for a couple of days when he wakes from his impromptu nap. I doubt he'll be pleased with the restriction."

"Hardly. Though at least you're all alive," Lucius agreed with a sigh.

" _If_ the brat can fight off the poison or I can find an antidote in time. Spell induced poison is difficult to fight and often it comes down to if the victim's magic is stronger than that of the spelled poison," Snape pointed out glumly just as Harry let off another powerful wave of magic drawing everyone's attention to the sleeping lords. Narcissa quickly cast her diagnostic spells again and paled.

"Severus... I don't think we _can_ attempt to use an antidote," Narcissa said slowly, staring at the results of her hastily cast diagnostics. "It appears that the poison is designed to infect the victim's magic and destroy it before finishing the kill. From the rapidly deteriorating magical residue that my diagnostics picked up just now... Severus, if Mr. Potter fails to fight off the poison naturally with muggle methods then there is nothing we can do. If we hadn't been present for that flare in his magic the residue would have been gone in less than 15 minutes and we never would have known. We _can't_ use anything else that isn't muggle on him for this. He would die within hours and would _already_ be dead if he weren't so powerful!"

"Shite!" Snape swore viciously as Narcissa handed over the spell results for him to double check her assessment. "Our lord won't be pleased when he wakes. _He's_ merely suffering from exhaustion."

"I'll put the muggles somewhere unpleasant while the two of you work," Lucius promised softly as he slipped out of the room to deal with the Dursleys and the rest of the people at Grimmauld place. This left his two mates to tend to the sleeping Lords of Magic, both of which were quite happy _not_ to have to deal with the rest of the occupants of the house at the moment.

About three hours later, Voldemort groggily awoke to the thrashing of his bedmate as both Severus and Narcissa tried to restrain Harry in the middle of a fever induced hallucination. After getting walloped in the face and sending a glare toward the person who hit him, he was awake enough to realize what was happening and quickly helped them restrain the young lion. Eventually they discovered that the only thing able to calm Harry in his terrified state was Voldemort cooing sweet, deadly, promises against Harry's enemies into the young man's ear. As a result, Voldemort wound up holding his soulmate in his arms, comforting him for close to two hours as his two people quietly filled him in on Harry's condition in a studied attempt to calm down. 

All of them were incensed at the fact that Harry had been begging Vernon not to hurt him during most of his hallucinations. Though admittedly a few of the hallucinations had starred Voldemort as the evil bastard he had been during the majority of Harry's school years. Of course, most of the ones in which Harry hallucinated the snake-faced version of the Dark Lord had him yelling in defiance rather than begging or cowering in fear. Which, after seeing how the ill Light Lord begged the false Vernon, had them much happier as it proved that the young wizard was far from broken, even if his psyche was a bit banged up. Finally, the sable haired young man slipped into a restless sleep as his fever went down to less dangerous levels.

"I want to know what happened. Harry is more than capable of dealing with most spells. Why was there even an opening in the joint defensive magics for this to _happen_?" Voldemort asked quietly, trying not to disturb his young counter part as he met the eyes of two of his most favored, rage burning in his eyes, turning them incandescent with power and fury.

"I don't know, my lord. Lucius, Granger, Weasley, and I were each dealing with separate attacks that had nearly gotten through our defenses. As a result, Potter was left essentially in the care of the two lower level members of our group," Severus admitted cautiously as he took a cool wet cloth and wiped Harry's forehead.

"And where were they when Harry got hurt?" Voldemort practically hissed, causing his dour friend to flinch and Narcissa to bop him on the head in disapproval, startling his temper back into something a bit more controllable than the lava like rage it had been imitating. He ignored the burning in his chest that he couldn't identify when looking at his mate, ignored the soft like thing in his gut that grew warm whenever he even _saw_ the young wizard.

"Perhaps you should simply look at their memories rather than trying to verbally eviscerate my _mate_?" Narcissa suggested sweetly, the warning clear in her voice. "Go on. I can just as easily watch him on my own." 

She ushered them out of the room, practically shoving them out the door before sealing the door and spelling it to _stay_ shut for the next half hour unless someone opened it from the inside. The two men stared at the closed door, dumb founded and still trying to figure out what had just happened. Which is exactly how Draco found them. The young blond watched them for a little bit before making his presence known.

"Why are you staring at the door?" Draco asked, wondering if he should try to find his mother and get them checked over.

"You're mother threw us out," Severus said in mild disbelief, earning a snicker from his godson. 

In response to the laughter the darkly clad man sent a glower at the pale Slytherin. Draco just shook his head and beckoned to them to follow. They exchanged a look before shrugging and following him. Eventually they arrived at the cellars where Lucius had placed the Dursleys and asked the two outer circle Death Eaters from Voldemort's battle group to guard them while he questioned them. When they saw the Dark Lord none of them dared to mention the fact that he was wandering about in the night clothes that Severus had spelled him into earlier... except Vernon.

"Freak! You can't even wear normal clothes!" Vernon informed him, his tone full of disdainful hatred before demanding. "Let us go! We want nothing to do with _**things**_ like _you_!"

Voldemort looked down at what he was wearing and realized, with more than a bit of personal embarrassment, that he was in pajamas rather than the proper robes he had been wearing earlier. Hiding his embarrassment he turned to the rapidly reddening potions master arching an eyebrow in question even as he calmly transfigured his attire into something a bit more appropriate. Snape simply shook his head and wouldn't meet his friend's eyes, much less the amused gaze of his silver-eyed blond haired mate. He was completely embarrassed over missing something so _obvious_ and shy about the entire situation even though they had been distracted by Harry's hallucinations.

"Should I be worried?" Lucius asked in amusement, laughter bubbling in his voice.

"Hardly," Severus snapped, still refusing to meet either of their eyes, an embarrassed flush staining his cheeks.

"Severus, why don't you continue where I left off at that... house? I need a word with these two in any case," Voldemort said in a silky, dangerous tone, gesturing at the two outer circle Death Eaters, his face grim as he realized that they were the two who were supposedly guarding Harry and his back during the raid. Snape arched an eyebrow, loosing his embarrassed flush as he looked over the two poor sods who suddenly felt like ice had been dripped down their back.

"Perhaps I should wait to review their memories? I can always entertain myself making my displeasure felt," The dour potions master offered softly. "I presume that you'll want to be made aware of my findings. I see no reason why you should refrain from being part of the inquiry, even if you don't conduct it yourself."

"You have a point," Voldemort said thoughtfully as he eyed the Dursleys evilly before again turning his attention to his two outer circle followers. A frown creased his brow when he noticed them figgiting nervously, much more than usual. 

"Gentlemen? Anything you would like to share? Or ask?" Voldemort asked in a soothingly soft silky voice, acting completely unconcerned about anything.

"It's just... why are we wasting our time with these _muggles_? Why is Potter even still alive?! He isn't worthy of the least bit of your attention! The brat should have died with his parents and you should have been ruling! Leading us to greatness!" The older outer circle Death Eater spat, finally venting his rage and anger after nearly twenty years of hiding it and playing nice with the _light_. 

Voldemort, Snape, and Lucius stared at him in shock, completely blindsided by the man's rant. Voldemort's eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion as he hissed out _Legilimens_ , brutally smashing through the man's rudimentary mental defenses and bringing him painfully to his knees. The Dark Lord quickly searched for any memories that were linked to the concept of treachery against him, or those connected to harming one Harry James Potter. 

Almost instantly Voldemort found himself drawn to the memory of the raid earlier that same day. He watched as both of the men in front of him purposefully left a large gap in the defensive magics just after the Lupins were sent on their way via portkey. He felt the man's anticipation of Harry's death along with the horror as he saw the spell heading for Voldemort's back. Next feeling the shock liberally mixed with satisfaction that the man had experienced as they watched Harry take not only the fire whip spell to the chest but also the bullet to his side.

Voldemort watching all of this, and vaguely feeling his follower's emotions which were soon drowned out by his own. He could feel a sharp pain in his chest mixed with worry, panic, pain, anger, and amazement as he watched Harry take not one but two injuries that should have been lethal for him, for both of them. He felt a great measure of admiration for his little mate as he realized that the only reason Harry had fallen to the entrapment was because he was protecting him. Otherwise, the young lion dealt with the added challenge of a weakened defense as though it weren't weakened at all. But because these fools had done so, and left his back open as well as Harry's sides, Harry had to take up the slack and protected him the only way he could at the time. He put himself in the way.

What suddenly made the Dark Lord go cold was the realization that Harry might truly die, might choose to leave him. He knew that he hadn't done enough to gain the young man's favor. He had thought that there was _time_ , time to make amends and coax the green-eyed demon into his bed, time to bind the powerful young man to him as his husband, time to show Harry that he was worth everything that had been done to protect him over the years.

The Dark Lord roughly pulled out of the now screaming man's mind, before casually flicking his wand and tossing both wizards against the wall. He allowed his raw magic to interact with the magic of the house and bind the two painfully into place. The house somehow sensing that this was done on behalf of its rightful master, who still lay injured and poisoned in an upstairs bedroom, as it acknowledged and obeyed the Lord Black's soulmate and future spouse. Needless to say the magic of the House of Black was not pleased with the two traitors who had allowed Harry to be put in his current condition. The house, making its displeasure felt, added a Black metal collar around each of their throats, emblazoned with the Black family crest to complement the restraints around each ankle and wrist made out of the stone foundations of the house.

The two wizards looked at their lord in terrified silence, instinctively watching his every move to try and figure out what would be done to them. Neither of them were reassured by the blaze of fury in the ruby eyes or the suddenly cold looks from their colleagues. From the fury on the Dark Lord's face both of them were expecting to be in _lots_ of pain very shortly. They both suddenly realized that they would be lucky to escape the man's righteous fury alive. There would be no escaping his wrath and even survival was becoming a dim hope, fading by the second.

"My lord?" Severus asked softly.

"They purposefully left an opening in the group's defenses to try and kill Harry during the raid," Voldemort informed them coldly, his ruby eyes going from a blaze of fury to a flat calculating ice in an instant, terrifying the two wizards further. Severus and Lucius took one look at their lord's expression and knew that their subordinates would not be among the living for very long, or if they were then it would only be to draw out their suffering. 

"I will be quite happy to teach them the error of their ways," Mort said with a dark chuckle as he coalesced from the darkness in one of the corners, his dark suit for a moment seemingly made from shadows and pure darkness before fading back into the shape of cloth. "Deliver them to me, Dark Lord, and claim the knowledge of my master from these foul creatures before you return to tend him. They will not find rest in my domain."

Death's words sent a chill down everyone's spine, especially with what his words implied. Harry might very well not survive if they didn't somehow give him a reason to live, or at least return to the living. Voldemort was determined not to loose him. He would tend the battered body of his green-eyed lion until the brat was well enough for him to make his displeasure known. Yes, it was displeasure not outright terror and fear of loosing the young man to a place beyond his reach, and certainly not borderline heart sick despair.

A spat double _Avada Kedavra_ had both wizards dead within moments. Voldemort ignored the fact that the house immediately pulled them into the very stone of the foundations, consuming the enemies of the house's master as he turned his demonically red eyes on the muggles. He absently silenced the small family as he considered them, forcing his fear for Harry and anger on his mate's behalf under control.

A moment's consideration had him entering Dudley's mind first. He used one of his more gentle touches as he took the time to understand if the boy was merely doing as taught or fully participating with malicious intent against his mate, against _Harry_. Within ten minutes, he carefully pulled out of the young squib's mind and sent him to wait in the hall for his judgement, taking care not to damage Dudley's mind in the process. He had realized that Harry would be displeased with him for killing the boy for childish cruelties that his cousin had already begun making amends for.

The vicious look he sent the adult Dursleys on the other hand, had them cringing away from him. A signal to Severus had the dour man entering Vernon's mind even as Voldemort entered Petunia's. Both of them completely absorbed in their search for the damning evidence of their actions against one small green-eyed boy who had been in their inept care for so long. 

Lucius watched with his dispassionate mask firmly in place until the breaking of the silencing spell on the two victims had him flinching with a barest wince at what his two friends were doing to their minds. It was very clear that any gentleness that the two wizards had wasn't going to be used on these two. Whatever they had done, Lucius was absolutely certain that he didn't want to be in their shoes and he rather hoped that it wouldn't give his mate nightmares. Eventually, both men roughly pulled out, not bothering to be careful and alarming Lucius as to how much trouble they had containing their rage along with their magic. It took him a moment but he finally got the courage to ask what they had found.

"What did you find?" Lucius asked softly, flinching backward into the wall as both their infuriated gazes landed on him. 

The sight of the blond man seemed to be what they needed, for both dark haired wizards began to calm, enough at least to bring their furiously lashing magics under better control. No one commented on the sobbing heaps of flesh, nor did they comment on the damage to the stone walls and floor that their out of control magics had caused. Voldemort had a flash of wry amusement at the thought of what Harry would say when he saw the scorched and gouged cellar when he managed to recover.

"That, that, that _**MONSTER**_ taught his son to use both a blade and a gun while using _Harry_ as a target dummy!" Snape practically roared, his entire body trembling in his rage as he tried to maintain his tenuous control over his magic. "At least my father only used a bloody belt! At least my father only hurt me when he was _drunk_! At least my father didn't actually try to hire someone to _**torture me to death**!_ Nor did he intentionally sell information on me to the bastards that are now hunting all of us, gleefully imagining a child being dissected alive!"

His mate's words made Lucius immediately sick to his stomach, only his many years of training and control prevented him from emptying it right then and there. When his mind thought of a five year old version of Draco in that same position he lost it, barely turning away in time to sick up in the corner. A simple spell cleaned up the mess and straightened his clothes before he turned back to his mate and friend to find that they had both taken the chance to down a strong calming draught. Lucius silently thanked Severus as he was handed a calming draught of his own along with an anti-nausea potion, which he immediately downed.

"The female at least viewed him a bit better than that," Voldemort said a moment later, after they were all certain that the calming draughts were working full force. "Most of her abuse was verbal. Apparently, one of the reasons she advocated keeping Harry in the cupboard was to keep her husband from trying to smother him at night. Her fear was that if the monster didn't have another target he would try to do something to her son. If Harry burnt something she liked using the still hot stove top to burn him as punishment and encouraged her own son to use a lighter on him in the hopes of Harry's clothes catching on fire to burn alive. She never touched him unless absolutely necessary, viewing Harry as something absolutely disgusting that shouldn't exist. Her only reason for not saying anything to the men who asked questions was a momentary flash of memory or guilt about Lily Potter."

"I can ensure they receive correct punishment for their actions Dark Lord," Mort offered softly from his corner. "Grant me that and go tend to my young master. In return, I will help you woo him and he will never know how close the three of you are to simply ripping them apart with your bear hands."

"Done," Voldemort didn't even have to think about it, knowing how volatile their combined rage would be were it loosed on these two... _things_. 

Voldemort tossed a slow disemboweling curse combined with a slow build blood boiling curse at the two before dragging his two Lieutenants out of the room and sealing it. Leaving the Dursleys to die a slow, painful death. Not a glance was spared for a very pale yet stoic Dudley waiting just outside the door to receive his own judgement. Vindictively, Snape tossed a sticking charm at the young man's feet, forcing him to listen to his parents screams until he was retrieved nearly three hours later to receive his own punishment. Dudley was forced to take his shirt off by a coldly calculating Lucius to allow Snape to paint a binding potion infused with drops of Harry's blood in a certain ritual pattern onto his skin. He would forever serve the young Light Lord as his servant and guard, answering only to Harry. The only release from his service being death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! Tending to a sick Harry!


	11. AUTHOR'S NOTE!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's notice from ChibiAyane

AUTHOR'S NOTICE: from ChibiAyane

To all of my followers, I apologize a hundred times over for not updating any of my fics for a while. I had an accident some time ago and ended up breaking a few vertebrae in my spine. I had to have a major surgery to repair it, and I've basically been out of commission for a while. So, since then I have been on more pain medication than I care to be, and hence, have not been able to focus on writing... or much of anything really. It's taking a lot of time to recover and I've only recently been allowed to reduce my medications. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to ALL of my stories very soon. 

Please don't give up on me yet! I haven't abandoned any of my fics, I promise!

However, if for some reason someone would like to take over one of my stories, to get it going again sooner than I would, I'm okay with letting some of them go through another's mind to find their completion. Just ask me or my friend, Genuka, first.

Thank you for understanding!

From Genuka:

This also led to a loss of contact between authors and contact is once again there... even if google and yahoo keep fighting so that its spotty. We will try very hard to get more story up for you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Check out our other stories!! The ones we've written individually and the ones we've written together! ~ChibiAyane & Genuka
> 
> Just a quick reminder. If I (Genuka) haven't responded to your review, one of three things happened:  
> 1) I haven't seen it yet.  
> 2) I didn't think it needed a response  
> 3) It sparked some sort of inspiration and I'm keeping it as a reference (most common with long and detailed reviews)


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